A TRIBUTE TO BOMBER COMMAND’S UNSUNG WARRIOR
WELLINGTON
UNITS •VARIANTS • SURVIVORS • ODDITIES • WEAPONS • COLOURS • CODES A
SPECIAL
W E L L I N GTO N | A T R I B U T E TO B O M B E R CO M M A N D’ S U N S U N G WA R R I O R
• SUB-HUN TERS AND MINESWEE PERS • THOUSAN D BOMBER SWANSON G • LOCH NES S WELLINGTON • AIR RAID
EYE WITNESS
UK £4.99
Without the Wellington during the first three years Bomber Command would have been totally ineffective, and could never have maintained its constant assault on Germany. Air Marshal Sir John Baldwin, Air Officer Commanding 3 Group, 1939-1942
Brand new Wellington Ia P9299 of 115 Squadron on a daylight sortie from its base, Marham in Norfolk, during the spring of 1940. VIA ANDY THOMAS
Header_03.ke.indd 3
04/10/2013 17:07
4
Wellington
Special
6 ONE WING OR TWO, SIR?
The 1930s witnessed a revolution in design techniques. In the vanguard of this was the Wellesley, Jonathan Garraway explains its vital contribution to Vickers, the Wellington and Bomber Command.
14 ONE-A-DAY
Ken Ellis relates the birth of the Wellington, its mass production and the genius of its designer, Barnes Wallis.
22 VARIANTS AND ODDITIES
Ever adaptable, the Wellington was produced in many versions, as Daniel Ford reveals.
32 SQUADRON DIRECTORY
Andrew Thomas outlines the units that flew the ‘Wimpey’.
42 LET THERE BE LIGHT Michael Napier describes 14 Squadron’s days stalking U-boats at low-level at night in searchlightequipped Wellingtons.
50 COMMAND BACKBONE
Tom Spencer charts the vital role of the Wellington and its crews in the onslaught on occupied Europe.
60 TAKING PUNISHMENT
Wellingtons gained a reputation for being able to take a lot of damage and still bring the aircrew home, as our portfolio attests.
5
62 THE MOON HAS RISEN HIGH IN THE HEAVENS
A remarkable first-hand account of a raid on Kiel by Wellingtons of 149 Squadron has recently surfaced in the archives of Peter Green.
76 ‘R-FOR-ROBERT’
Americans hoping to discover the ‘Loch Ness Monster’ found something completely different. Ken Ellis describes an astounding salvage.
70 DOWN IN THE DRINK Air Cdre Graham Pitchfork relates the incredible experiences of three Wellington crews who found themselves at the mercy of the cruel sea.
80 E-BOAT HUNTERS
German ‘E-boats were a deadly threat to the Allies and 524 Squadron was specifically tasked to counter them - at a terrible cost. Andrew Thomas relates the unit’s brief career.
86 BOMBER TURNED SAVIOUR
Air Cdre Graham Pitchfork describes the work of the unsung Warwick air-sea rescue units.
94 AIR AND GROUND A portfolio of ‘Wimpey’ air and ground crew.
96 SWANSONG
With the end of the war, the Wellington was far from retiring. Sam Tyler describes its final years, as a trainer.
EDITED BY: Ken Ellis, with thanks to: Steve Beebee, Julie Lawson, Nigel Price, Glenn Sands CHIEF DESIGNER: Steve Donovan ART EDITOR AND COVER: Andy O’Neil DESIGNERS: Chris Abrams, Lee Howson, Matt Fuller and Jigowatt PRODUCTION Production Editor: Sue Blunt Sub-Editors: Carol Randall and Norman Wells Production Manager: Janet Watkins ADVERTISING AND MARKETING Advertisement Manager: Alison Sanders Advertising Group Manager: Brodie Baxter Advertising Production Manager: Debi McGowan Marketing Manager: Martin Steele Marketing Executive: Shaun Binnington
COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR: Ann Saundry GROUP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Paul Hamblin MANAGING DIRECTOR & PUBLISHER: Adrian Cox EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN: Richard Cox CONTACTS Key Publishing Ltd PO Box 100, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 1XQ Tel: 01780 755131 Fax: 01780 757261 Email:
[email protected] www.keypublishing.com DISTRIBUTION: Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PP. Tel: 020 74294000 Printed by: Warners (Midlands) plc, Bourne, Lincs The entire contents of this special edition is copyright © 2013. No part of it may be reproduced in any form or stored on any form of retrieval system without the prior permission of the publisher.
FRONT COVER: Wellington Ia N2980 R-for-Robert of 20 Operational Training Unit is today preserved at the Brooklands Museum - see page 76. DAVID AILS © 2013 www.ailsaviationart.com THIS PAGE: The timeless artistry of Roy Cross graced the boxes of many Airfix kits, including the Wellington; in this case from 425 Squadron RCAF. With many thanks to Airfix - www.airfix.com Published by: Key Publishing Ltd
PRINTED IN ENGLAND
6
One Wing
Wellington
Special
or Two, Sir?
The Vickers G4/31 contenders, biplane and monoplane, displaying at Hendon in 1935. VICKERS-ARMSTRONGS VIA AUTHOR
R
emembered for its huge wing span and long-range record-breaking flights, the real legacy of the Wellesley was much more sweeping, it was truly a game-changer. It prepared the way for the incredible Wellington and so set Vickers up as a giant of the aviation industry.
While Wellesleys were making awesome non-stop expeditions, early auto-pilots, fuel-management systems and the like were also being trialled and evaluated. This work was to pay dividends as Bomber Command matured into a strategic weapon, hitting deep into Europe. In the summer of 1931 the Air Ministry issued Specification G4/31 for a general purpose, light bombing and torpedo-carrying type to replace
THE 1930S WITNESSED A REVOLUTION IN DESIGN TECHNIQUES. IN THE VANGUARD OF THIS WAS THE WELLESLEY, JONATHAN GARRAWAY DETAILS ITS VITAL CONTRIBUTION TO VICKERS, THE WELLINGTON AND BOMBER COMMAND
”...IN DEPRESSION RIDDEN BRITAIN, THE WINNER OF THIS CONTRACT WAS LOOKING AT A LIFELINE.” OneWing_06-12 mk2.ke.indd 6
04/10/2013 12:31
7
Fairey Gordon and Westland Wapiti biplanes. Nearly 300 of the former and over 400 of the latter had been ordered; in depression-ridden Britain the winner of this contract was looking at a lifeline. No less than nine companies – Armstrong Whitworth, Blackburn, Bristol, Fairey, Handley Page, Hawker, Parnall, Vickers and Westland – built prototypes for a fly-off.
Time for change Chairman of Vickers Sir Robert McLean, was determined that his company’s response to G4/31 would capitalise on the previously underused skills of Barnes Neville Wallis.
(Much more on this ‘young gun’ in One a Day, which follows.) There was a great temptation to ‘play safe’ with G4/31 and stick to Pierson’s proven formula that had created the successful Vildebeest and Vincent biplanes, then in production. McClean was inspired by the work Wallis had done in designing the R100 airship and his pioneering of new construction techniques– geodetics – looked set to produce lighter, stronger and more durable airframes. A compromise was reached, the G4/31 featured classic Vickers biplane characteristics, but the fuselage was designed by Wallis, using geodetics
for the ‘shell’, but with the backstop of conventional light alloy longerons. Wallis had also sketched monoplane layouts to meet G4/31 and he persisted in his belief that the time had come to drop biplanes. He got his way. A board meeting of April 12, 1932, bit the bullet and it was decided to build both versions – at eye-watering cost. Powered by a Bristol Pegasus IIM3 radial, the biplane G4/31 (K2771) first flew at Brooklands on August 16, 1934. It won the fiercely-fought contest and the Air Ministry ordered 150 units. Hard on its heels was the monoplane, with a Pegasus IIIM3, which flew on June 19, 1935.
Below Left: Ground running the G4/31 biplane, K2771, at Brooklands in 1934. Note the bomb load. Below: Rebuilt after its accident, the G4/31 monoplane, K7556, in the final Wellesley format. BOTH VICKERS-ARMSTRONGS VIA AUTHOR
”ON JUNE 18, 1937 A SOVIET AIRCRAFT APPROACHED US AIR SPACE FROM OVER THE NORTH POLE...”
OneWing_06-12 mk2.ke.indd 7
04/10/2013 12:31
8
Wellington
Wellesley I L2676 of 14 Squadron ready for a sortie.
OneWing_06-12 mk2.ke.indd 8
Special
That month, the one-wing and two-wing G4/31s flew together at the Hendon Air Pageant and it was clear that the monoplane was a massive leap forward. The Air Ministry agreed and the contract was re-issued in October 1935 and eventually 176 were delivered. As well as this realisation, the mid-1930s showed that the ‘G’ for ‘general purpose’ was an anachronism. The big-span Vickers monoplane showed most potential as an interim bomber and dropped the other roles. Wearing the ‘B Condition’ (or ‘trade-plate’) marking PVO-9, the monoplane crashed on landing at Brooklands on July 23, thankfully without injury to the flight test crew. The opportunity was taken to rebuild it to production standard and it re-
appeared by the end of the year as the first Wellesley, K7556. On January 30, 1937 the initial production Wellesley (K7713) was flown, and in April 76 Squadron at Finningley, Yorks, became the type’s first unit. Eventually six British-based squadrons and four from East Africa flew Wellesleys. The new bomber had a top speed of 264mph (424mph) and a maximum operational range of 2,590 miles (4,168km). With a wing span of 74ft 7in (22.73m) it was big – the twin-engined Wellington’s span was only 11ft 5in greater. Often confused as external fuel tanks, the Wellesley carried a detachable, streamlined pannier under each wing for up to 2,000lb (907kg) of bombs. These were needed because the ‘egg
shell’ nature of the geodetic structure prevented large interruptions – such as bomb bays. (An egg is very tough, provided it keeps its shape.) By the time Wallis designed the Wellington, he had overcome this problem.
Throttle management On June 18, 1937 a Soviet aircraft approached US air space from over the North Pole – two decades later this was to be the stuff of ‘Cold War’ nightmares. With a giant wing spanning 111ft 6in, the ANT-25 had been specially created by Andrei Tupolev’s design bureau to create a stir and wave the flag for the USSR. It touched down at Portland in Washington State – an incredible feat, but Stalin expected better.
04/10/2013 12:31
9
”WALLIS PERSISTED IN HIS BELIEF THAT THE TIME HAD COME TO DROP BIPLANES. HE GOT HIS WAY.”
OneWing_06-12 mk2.ke.indd 9
Above: K7731 of 76 Squadron the static at an airshow at Doncaster in 1938. It was shot down over the Sudan in August 1940. Below: Manoeuvring L2638 of the Long Range Development Unit. Note the absence of bomb panniers.
04/10/2013 12:32
10
Wellington
Above: L2645, wearing 14 Squadron’s badge.
Right: Man-handling L2639 at Ismailia prior to the epic flight, November 1938.
OneWing_06-12 mk2.ke.indd 10
Special
Twenty-five days later, the ANT-25 took off from an airfield near Moscow and landed at San Jacinto, California. It had been in the air for 62 hours 17 minutes and had travelled 7,145 miles to set a new world record. Perhaps as a direct consequence of this feat, at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire a special RAF unit was established on New Year’s Day 1939. This was the Long Range Development Unit (LRDU) under the command of Wg Cdr Oswald Gayford dfc afc. He had flown Fairey Long Range Monoplane K1991 non-stop from Cranwell to Walvis Bay, South Africa, in February 1932, a distance of 5,410 miles. In the still, cool air of pre-dawn at Ismailia in Egypt on November 5, 1938, three LRDU Wellesleys took off determined not to land until they reached Australia. One aircraft, low on fuel, had to drop out at Kupang in Timor, but that was still exceptional aviating. The other two made it all the way to Darwin, Northern Territory, touching down at midday on the 7th, after 48 hours in the air. They had flown 7,158 miles, a vitally important 13 miles more than the ANT-25! (See the panel, right.) Setting the record was the overt aim of LRDU, but it had a much more important task and the clue was in the word Development of its title. Before it disbanded on January 23, 1939, LRDU had immeasurably improved Bomber Command’s knowledge of automated boost and mixture controls, superchargers, flying clothing, navigation techniques, leadless fuel and – vitally – the behaviour of threeaxis auto-pilots.
”THE WELLESLEY PREPARED THE WAY FOR THE INCREDIBLE WELLINGTON AND SO SET VICKERS UP AS A GIANT OF THE AVIATION INDUSTRY.” Behind the sensational headlines, LRDU was readying the next generation of bombers for all-out war.
East African Warplane There is a myth that by the start of World War Two, the Wellesley was out of service, or relegated to secondline duties. Italy entered the conflict on June 10, 1940 and hostilities immediately erupted in North and East Africa. Wellesleys were in action from the start, bombing the Eritrean port of Massawa. On August 18 they attacked the Abyssinian capital, Addis Ababa.
An Italian air strike on the forward base at Gedaref in the Sudan on October 16 caught 47 Squadron unawares and eight Wellesleys were destroyed on the ground. (See the panel on page 12 for details.) Last to fly the Wellesley operationally was 47 Squadron, which retired them from coastal patrols of the Libyan coast line in March 1943. But the type was still not finished, it was not until July 12, 1944 that the Khormaksar Station Flight in Aden finally retired K7726 and declared the veteran struck off charge. Not bad for a big-winged aircraft that was ‘only’ used for record-breaking.
04/10/2013 12:32
11
Long-legged wellesleys The three specially-modified LRDU Wellesleys used for the record-breaking Egypt to Australia flight of November 5-7, 1938 each had a crew of three: captain, navigator and wireless operator – all took turns to fly. Flt Lt Hogan’s L2639 had to cut the flight short in Timor, but caught up with the others at Darwin. After the epic flight, the Wellesleys toured Australia. On December 16, 1938 L2639 force-landed and was abandoned; the other two returning to the UK. Crews were as follows: L2638 – Sqn Ldr Richard Kellett, Flt Lt R J Gething, Plt Off M L Gaine L2639 – Flt Lt H A V Hogan, Flt Lt R G Musson, Flt Sgt T D Dixon L2680 – Flt Lt Andrew Combe, Flt Lt Brian Burnett, Sgt H B Gray
with Shown while very likely serving 223 Squadron, L2654 was shot down on June 15, 1940.
OneWing_06-12 mk2.ke.indd 11
04/10/2013 12:32
12
Wellington
Special
Wellesley Operational Losses Date Jun 11, 1940 Jun 12, 1940 Jun 14, 1940 Jun 15, 1940 Jun 16, 1940 Jun 25, 1940 Jul 2, 1940 Jul 3, 1940 Jul 12, 1940 Jul 23, 1940 Jul 29, 1940 Aug 9, 1940 Aug 26, 1940 Sep 1, 1940 Sep 10, 1940 Sep 18, 1940 Oct 16, 1940
Serial K7730 K7747 K7743 L2654 L2694 L2696 K7777 L2652 K8520 L2661 K8524 K7756 K7731 L2669 K7763 L2664 K7742
Sqn 47 223 14 223 223 47 45 14 47 223 223 47 223 14 14 223 47
Nov 16, 1940 Dec 12, 1940 Dec 16, 1940 Dec 22, 1940 Jan 12, 1941 Feb 7, 1941 Feb 14, 1941 Feb 28, 1941 Mar 16, 1941 Mar 18, 1941 Apr 3, 1941 Jul 2, 1941 Nov 14, 1941
L2695 K8521 L2690 K7775 K7728 K8525 K7788 K7765 K8527 K7786 K7720 L2713 L2712
223 47 223 47 47 47 223 47 47 47 223 47 47
Circumstances Force-landed after damage by ground fire, Asmara Damaged by Italian fighters, crashed on landing at Summitt Shot down by Italian fighter, Acico Shot down by ground fire, Gura Shot down by Italian fighter Force landed returning from recce, Asmara Shot down by ground fire, Metemma Shot down by Italian fighter Failed to return, Asmara Damaged by Italian fighter, struck off charge on return to base Damaged by Italian fighter, struck off charge on return to base Damaged by Italian fighter, crashed on landing at Carthago Shot down by Italian fighter, Asmara Damaged by Italian fighter, force landed, Eritrea; L2689 of 14 Sqn failed to return Shot down by Italian fighter, Kassala Failed to return, Kassala Destroyed on ground during Italian attack at Gedaref, along with K7762, K7779, K7781, L2650, L2675, L2677, L2688 Failed to return from night raid, Massawa Shot down by Italian fighter, Burye Damaged by Italian fighter, force landed, Wadi Gazouza Force-landed during an air-drop, Eritrea Crashed at Gordon’s Tree returning from a raid Failed to return Shot down by ground fire, Mai Edaga Shot down by ground fire, Burye Shot down by Italian fighter, Keren Destroyed on the ground during Italian attack at Agordat Force-landed after attack on Italian shipping, Red Sea Shot down by Italian fighter, Gondar, Ethiopia Crashed during a recce, Ethiopia
Bases during this period: 14 Sqn Port Sudan, Sudan; 47 Sqn Erkoweit, Carthago, Sennar, Gordon’s Tree, all Sudan, Asmara, Eritrea; 223 Sqn Summitt, Wadi Gazouza, Sudan A pair of 14 Squadron Wellesleys over the Sudan. ALL AUTHOR’S COLLECTION UNLESS NOTED
”LRDU WAS READYING THE NEXT GENERATION OF BOMBERS FOR ALL OUT WAR.”
OneWing_06-12 mk2.ke.indd 12
04/10/2013 12:32
INC
INC
INC
FREE P&P*
FREE P&P*
FALKLANDS
SPITFIRE 75
Paying homage to the crews, engineers and tacticians who made the 1943 Dambusters raid possible.
In this 75th anniversary year, the team behind FlyPast magazine present a special tribute to the Spitfire.
The team behind Britain at War present a 30th Anniversary Special.
100
100
100
INC
130 132
FREE P&P*
FREE P&P*
£4.99 INC
FREE P&P*
PRHAL IC F E
PRHAL IC F E
CLASSICS 5
RAF 2013
INC
INC
FREE P&P*
FREE P&P
Behind the scenes insight into the aircraft, equipment and people of one of the world’s premier air forces
£2.49
£2.49
£4.99
£4.99
PRHAL IC F E
FREE P&P*
PRHAL IC F E
DAMBUSTERS 70TH
£3.49
£2.49
£4.99
S P C AS U B EC LL SC IA F RI LS OR BE ’ D Y RS IS OU CO R UN INC T ** *
RAF SALUTE
UK AIRPOWER
SCALE MODELLING
This 5th edition turns the clock back once again to bring you the best from the classic years of aviation.
From the first UK Jet to the last of the Spitfires - the history of the RAF and its present-day capabilities and the incredible heritage of the force.
A look at the aviation assets of the British forces following the SDSR in 2010.
Sage advice for beginners, those returning to the hobby & even more experienced modelers. It’s everything you need to know to produce a great model
100
100
100
100
AVIATION SPECIALS
NEW FREE Aviation Specials App
ESSENTIAL reading from the teams behind your FAVOURITE magazines
HOW TO ORDER VISIT
www.keypublishing.com/shop
PHONE
UK: 01780 480404 ROW: (+44)1780 480404
*Prices correct at time of going to press. Subscriber discount valid on full price items only. Free 2nd class P&P on all UK & BFPO orders. Overseas charges apply. Postage charges vary depending on total order value.
Simply download to purchase digital versions of your favourite aviation specials in one handy place! Once you have the app, you will be able to download new, out of print or archive specials for less than the cover price! 694/13
14
Wellington
Special
Wellington fuselages at Brooklands, at the start of the assembly process. VICKERS VIA AUTHOR
15
One-a-Day
KEN ELLIS RELATES THE BIRTH OF THE WELLINGTON, ITS MASS PRODUCTION AND THE GENIUS OF ITS DESIGNER, BARNES WALLIS
”PIERSON RECOGNISED WALLIS’S GENIUS... THEIR CO OPERATION WAS TO TAKE THE AVIATION DIVISION OF VICKERS FROM PROMISING SIDE LINE TO INDUSTRIAL DYNASTY.”
16
Wellington
Special
The prototype Wellington, K4059, at Brooklands. Just visible is the number ‘7’ from its appearance at the Hendon Air Pageant ‘new types’ park. KEY COLLECTION
”...THE ROYAL AIRCRAFT ESTABLISHMENT FOUND THAT THE NEW STRUCTURE EXCEEDED ALL PREVIOUS REQUIREMENTS BY A SIGNIFICANT MARGIN. Barnes Wallis : Early Days Barnes Neville Wallis was born at Ripley, Derbyshire, on September 26, 1887. His first job was with Thames Engineering at Blackheath, then with shipwrights J Samuel Wright on the Isle of Wight. There, he worked with H B Pratt who had worked on the abortive ‘Mayfly’ airship at Barrow.
Vickers re-established the Barrow airship works in 1913, re-employing Pratt who asked that Wallis join him. They developed the R9 for the Admiralty in 1916, then Wallis went on to design the R80 of 1920. Along with Cdr E A Masterman, Wallis created a mooring mast that revolutionised the operation of
airships, especially in high winds. Vickers formed the Airship Guarantee Company at Howden and received a contract for the 100-passenger R100, designed by Wallis, in October 1924. Meanwhile the Royal Airship Works was told to proceed with the rival R101. For the R100 wire-mesh was used
to keep the 15 gas bags in place and it is said that this criss-crossing, and the rigidity it brought for little weight, inspired the geodetics that became the hallmark of his fixedwing creations. As explained in the main narrative, the R101 crashed and Britain’s airship era went down with it. Airship R100 moored to the mast developed by Wallis and Masterman. KEC
17
S
pread across a hillside near Beauvais in France, the grim wreckage of the airship R101 marked the end of Britain’s airship industry. Built by the Royal Airship Works at Cardington, it had departed on a headline-grabbing flight on October 5, 1930 and crashed; seven people miraculously survived, 47 perished. Its competitor was the privatelyfinanced R100 – built at Howden on Humberside, it showed great promise. With the demise of the R101 the Airship Guarantee Company, set up by Vickers, had nowhere to go with its massive investment and the R100 was
dismantled in October 1931. All of the staff faced an uncertain future, including the R100’s gifted designer, Barnes Neville Wallis. (See the panel - left - for Wallis’s background.) Wallis had no need to look for work, the chairman of Vickers and its subsidiary, Supermarine, Sir Robert McLean, was determined to turn his talents to fixed-wing aircraft. He hoped that Wallis and his other ‘young gun’, Supermarine’s Reginald Joseph Mitchell, would hit it off and provide new and vigorous approaches to Air Ministry specifications. The normally tolerant Mitchell, eight years Wallis’s junior, took exception
Iron Duke : Twice honoured
Head-on view of the prototype, with the famous motoring racing track banking in the background. KEY COLLECTION
Wallis in his office in the early 1970s. KEC
The new Vickers single-engined monoplane bomber of 1935 was named in honour of the brilliant soldier Arthur Wellesley. He became the 1st Duke of Wellington after his dazzling defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. (See One Wing or Two? on page 6.) The Vickers B9/32 twin-engined bomber first flew in the following year. At that point it was going to be called the Crécy after King Edward III’s victory over Philip VI’s forces on August 26, 1346. That battle changed the face of warfare, with longbows decimating the French. By the summer of 1936 it was clear that the new bomber was very likely going to fight alongside the French. So it was best not to have Britain’s 20th century longbow commemorating a conflict France would sooner forget. One of Britain’s greatest Field Marshals had managed to get his name on two aircraft in quick succession!
to Barnes and there was a famous moment when they took separate trains to head office to explain that they could not work together. McClean initially offered Wallis the post of head of structures. But then he upped the ante; Wallis was to work alongside chief designer R K ‘Rex’ Pierson at Brooklands. Having cut his teeth on types like the Vimy, Pierson was the stalwart creative influence at Vickers. Pierson recognised Wallis’s genius and was happy to accept his appointment. Their co-operation was to take the aviation division of Vickers from promising side-line to industrial dynasty.
Basket-weave geodetics The first type Wallis worked on was the M1/30 torpedo biplane which adopted Duralumin for the spars, longerons and fuselage stringers. Vickers had a reputation for big, robust biplanes and while the M1/30 looked the part, it was actually much more radical than it seemed. It first flew on January 11, 1933 but on November 23 it broke up in the air, while carrying an inert torpedo. Test pilot ‘Mutt’ Summers and observer John Radcliffe successfully ‘took to the silk’. During the summer of 1931 the Air Ministry had issued Specification G4/31 for a general purpose, light bombing and torpedo-carrying type to
replace Fairey Gordon and Westland Wapiti biplanes. One Wing or Two charts how Vickers aimed two designs at G4/31, a Pierson-inspired biplane and the Wallis-designed geodetic monoplane that became the Wellesley. McClean was inspired by Wallis and his new construction technique that looked set to facilitate lighter, stronger airframes. Geodetics produced a lightweight ‘basket-weave’ providing exceptional strength. Tests at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough found that the new structure exceeded all previous requirements by a significant margin. The geodetics formed a strong outer structure that could adopt considerable curvatures – internal fittings, floors etc could be added as the airframe progressed down the production line. Not only were geodetics light, yet durable, the technique permitted ease of construction and repair. (Mitchell’s Spitfire was also light and strong, but was a nightmare to mass-produce.) By the time the Wellington was being finalised, Vickers stunned the Air Ministry by announcing in 1937 that, if ordered in hundreds, one bomber could be built every 24 hours.
Decisive bomber While the Wellesley was an important contract for Vickers, it had a greater purpose as a pathfinder for another Air Ministry requirement of massive
18
Wellington
Special
potential and, ultimately, vital strategic importance. Specification B9/32 was seeking a twin-engined medium bomber to transform the RAF’s offensive capability. Ministry parameters changed as the design rolled on, but Pierson and Wallis were not just ready for these, they were ahead of them. Trevor Westbrook was given command of creating the new bomber en masse and worked with Wallis to standardise the geodetic sections so that there were fewer variations, and made them lighter still. By thinking beyond the prototype Vickers made sure the bomber would enter service smoothly and quickly. This made the ‘one-a-day’ claim a far from idle boast. On June 16, 1936 test pilot ‘Mutt’ Summers took the Vickers Type 271 – the prototype Wellington – for its maiden flight at Brooklands. Also on board were Wallis and Westbrook; the consequences of a disaster during that first foray do not bear thinking about. Two months later, 180 were ordered, long before the official RAF evaluation. Summers was having a busy time. Seventy-three days before he carried out the maiden flight of the Type 271, An early production Mk.I. KEY COLLECTION
Looking towards the tails of a pair of Wellington fuselages on the production line; the example on the right has the pilot’s floor and seat in place. KEC
With or without the ‘e’? Bumbling, hamburger-guzzling J Wellington Wimpy was spinach-chomping pugilistic sailor Popeye’s unlikely friend in the cartoon series that first appeared in 1929. It was inevitable that a bomber called Wellington would be nicknamed ‘Wimpy’. But how was that to be spelt? Many, many sources spell it ‘Wimpey’ and that’s what has been adopted for this publication. In 1880 George Wimpey started a stonemasonry business that soon blossomed into more general construction. By 1920 the Wimpey company was by far and away the largest house-builder and major constriction operation in the UK and was a nationwide ‘brand’. It was from this source that the nickname adopted the ‘e’. It proved to be very appropriate; Wimpey built a large number of RAF airfields in the run up to, and during, the war. So ‘Wimpeys’ would have operated from Wimpey-built runways. The name is still in use, in 2007 Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey merged to become Taylor Wimpey.
”VICKERS STUNNED THE AIR MINISTRY BY ANNOUNCING IN 1937 THAT, IF ORDERED IN HUNDREDS, ONE BOMBER EVERY 24 HOURS COULD BE PRODUCED.” he had flown to Eastleigh, Southampton. There he took the Supermarine Type 300 – Mitchell’s Spitfire prototype – into the air for the first time. Powered by 915hp (682kW) Bristol Pegasus X radials, the Type 271 – serial K4049 – was regarded as workin-progress, as Wallis and Westbrook radically redefined the bomber for production and service. To speed things up, it was fitted with a fin and rudder from Mitchell’s Stranraer flying-boat and bulbous, glazed nose and tail positions. A comparison of K4049 and the first production Mk.I reveals a much-changed format. After Mutt Summers had carried out his initial flight tests in September 1936, K4049 was not delivered to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Martlesham Heath for Air Ministry acceptance trials, but to RAE Farnborough. As noted above, RAE had been heavily involved in assessing the geodetic structure and the ‘boffins’ were keen to have first-hand experience of the new bomber. The prototype returned to Brooklands in October for alterations and was delivered to A&AEE the following month. Tragically, K4054 broke up in mid-air on April 19, 1937; the pilot escaped but the flight engineer was killed. There was a large horn balance on
19
The first Mk.I, L4212, at Brooklands, January 1938. KEY COLLECTION
the elevator, a device intended to lessen the load on the control column and this paddle-like protuberance when exposed to the airflow at its greatest setting flipped the aircraft onto its back.
Re-thought and refined The loss of a prototype so early on in the life of the programme could have been devastating, but it was quickly discovered that the failure was a practical one and not a sign that the whole design was flawed. The ‘fi x’ for this was applied to the first Mk.I, L4212, along with the long list of improvements that A&AEE stipulated. When the design of K4054 was completed, it was hand-built and readied for flight test. Meanwhile, Wallis and his team set about a major re-design meaning that L4212 was a much improved machine; so much so that a new Specification B29/36 was issued to reflect this. The fuselage was deepened, allowing for an increased bomb load. The nose was lengthened toaccommodate a power-operated twin-gun installation and a position for the bomb aimer. A similar gun position was placed in the extreme tail and there was provision for a retractable, ventral gun position. A geodetic fin and rudder was installed, the tailplane was raised and, after many revisions, new elevators fitted. The number of crew was raised from four to five. All of this meant that the Mk.I was a much heavier, but far more capable and adaptable bomber. The first Mk.I, L4212 flew for the first time on December 23, 1937. As noted in Command Backbone, 99
A Mk.I well on the way to completion on the line at Brooklands. KEC
NOT THE NICEST TO FLY Sqn Ldr Gordon Willis of 524 Squadron had the following to say on the flying characteristics of the ‘Wimpey’: “The Wellington was not the nicest aircraft to fly, being at best somewhat ponderous. But it did have one outstanding virtue and that was that, once well and truly airborne, with plenty of speed and a bit of height, it would fly – just! – on one engine, something that many other twin-engined aircraft of that time could not manage. “I personally had reason to bless this virtue a few times; once having lost an engine on take-off with a full bomb load; once when an engine stopped very suddenly whilst at fairly low level off Dieppe and once when we lost an engine due to flak. “In the first instance I had insufficient time, speed or height to do anything other than scramble down on to a crosswind runway. The other time involved a long slog to gain height to safely jettison our ‘live’ bombs and return to the nearest airfield. “On one engine it was impossible to trim out the asymmetric loads, and an hour of full pressure with one leg ensured quite a few days of sore muscles! Suffice it to say, the aircraft was quite well suited to our requirements in 524 Squadron and, all in all, performed more than adequately.”
20
Wellington
Above and below: The prototype (above) and the first Mk.I (below) providing a vivid comparison for how different they were. BOTH KEY COLLECTION
Special
Squadron at Mildenhall took delivery of the first operational Wellington in October 1938. Brooklands was already geared up for production and, to stick to the one-a-day promise, two new factories were established. First on stream was Hawarden, near Chester, which completed its first Mk.I, L7770, in August 1939. A year later the second facility, Squires Gate, Blackpool carried out the maiden flight of Mk.Ic X3160. The Wellington’s contribution to Bomber Command was crucial; it took the brunt of the offensive until the fourengined ‘heavies’ gained momentum. At that point, its contribution was far from over, having already carved an important niche with the Operational Training Units, as a bomber in the Middle East and with Coastal Command. (Features follow that take the reader through the many variations
and roles of the Wellington.) On October 13, 1945 at Squires Gate, the last-ever Wellington, Mk.X RP590, rolled off the production line. A grand total of 11,461 had been created, far more than any other British bomber. Wellingtons retired from RAF service, as crew trainers, in 1954, bringing to an end an astounding career.
Geodetic legacy Hard on the heels of the Wellington specification, the Air Ministry issued B1/35 for a bomber that could broadly be called the ‘Super’ version. The prototype Warwick first flew on August 13, 1939 but was bedevilled with a slow gestation as its powerplant, role and abilities were altered. From January 1943 the Warwick was assigned to air-sea rescue and it became a very successful long-range saviour. Potentially a Wellington replacement,
it was long out-lived by its elder relative. (See Bomber Turned Saviour.) Wallis’s time was increasingly absorbed by ‘bouncing’ bombs and then the series of huge, high-velocity, weapons; all intended to give Bomber Command what it so vitally needed, a precision attack capability. However, his fertile brain had not abandoned aircraft; he wouldreturn to them with typically revolutionary ideas. ‘Rex’ Pierson oversaw the Warwick and the four-engined follow-through, the Windsor. During 1942 Pierson and Wallis talked through the possibility of an enormous six-engined bomber, intended to deliver a huge amount of ordnance, but not to risk as many precious aircrew. This was referred to as the ‘50-ton bomber’ and was sketched in canard (main wings to the rear) configuration and well as a more conventional layout. The last Vickers piston-engined bomber
21
The last geodetic bomber, the Windsor prototype. KEY COLLECTION
utilised the large proportions that geodetics permitted, with high aspect ratio, elliptical wings. Characterised by its four-unit main undercarriage – one in each engine nacelle – the first Windsor flew on October 23, 1943. It was a monster, carrying a 12,000lb (5,443kg) bombload, had a maximum all-up weight of around 60,000lb and a span of 117ft 2in (35.71m). But Avro’s Lancaster had become the weapon of choice for Bomber Command and only two more Windsors were built. In 1945, Pierson became chief engineer, and George Edwards took over the Vickers design department. The mother lode of the Wellington’s legacy was not yet expended; Edwards knew that Vickers had to get into the civilian marketplace if it was to survive. On June 22, 1945 the Viking airliner, its wings showing its Wellington ancestry, had its maiden flight. From this stemmed the Valetta military transport and the Varsity crew trainer. The Viking’s main claim to fame was to provide the bridge to major airliners. George Edwards (later Sir George) conceived the world-beating Viscount, taking Vickers to the VC10 and, through the British Aircraft Corporation, to Concorde.
Beyond the Wellington and ‘bouncing bombs’
Barnes Wallis with a model of the Swallow in the mid-1950s. The starboard wing is in fullyswept configuration, the port one in the landing position. KEC
Wallis returned to aircraft by rekindling a desire for long-range commercial aviation that had its roots in the days of the R.100 airship. Travel at very high-speed to Australia was his goal and, true to form, he came up with a radical concept. Wallis is erroneously credited with inventing the ‘swing-wing’; this is not so, his scheme was way beyond this; he was re-inventing the aeroplane. In 1948 he came up with the term Wing-Controlled Aerodyne, as he believed that for supersonic, long-range flight the established norms of aerodynamics and format were obsolete. Wallis was talking of things called ichthyoid bodies – just like fish change shape to maximise their performance. To achieve multiple-Mach figures, Wallis wanted to be rid of tail surfaces, to turn wings into the only control device and make the ‘fuselage’ capable of a lift and/or control function. What followed was one of Britain’s longest research ventures, 1950 to 1959, Project Swallow. Other than flying scale-models, nothing came of it. Knighted in 1968, Wallis retired from the successor of Vickers, the British Aircraft Corporation, three years later. He died on October 30, 1979 – aged 92.
The Valetta military transport (C.1 VL249 illustrated) and the Viking airliner capitalised on the Wellington legacy. VICKERS-ARMSTRONGS VIA AUTHOR
22
Wellington
Special
Ever adaptable, the Wellington was produced in many versions, as Daniel Ford reveals
Variants Oddities and
I O
Mk.
Above: As its bomber role was waning, the Wellington took on a new combat career, with Coastal Command. Mk.XIV MP714 engaged in rocket projectile testing at Boscombe Down, July 1943. Rocket tails are just visible under the starboard wing, while under the rear fuselage the stowed Leigh Light can just be seen. KEY COLLECTION
ne A Day, on page 14, described the Wellington prototype and the considerable evolution that produced the first Mk.I, L4212, which had its maiden flight from Brooklands on December 23, 1937. Inaugural delivery to an operational unit was Mk.I L4215 to 99 Squadron at Mildenhall on October 10, 1938. Mk.Is were powered by 1,050hp (783kW) Bristol Pegasus XVIIIs and had a loaded weight of 24,850lb (11,271kg). A total of 185 Mk.Is were built, featuring problematical Vickers power-operated, twin-gun turrets fore and aft, and in a retractable ventral position.
Much work was undertaken to standardize the improved Mk.Ia (183 built) with the Merlin-powered Mk.II – see below. This had Frazer-Nash power-operated, twin-gun turrets in the three positions and an all-up weight of 28,500lb with a beefed-up undercarriage to cope with this. The ventral turret eventually proved to be of little value and was deleted. The Mk.Ib was overtaken by events as the Mk.Ic specification was perfected. With the Mk.Ic, Vickers took into account operational experiences and went on to produce 2,685 of the new variant at Brooklands and also at its
subsidiary plants at Hawarden, near Chester, and Squires Gate, Blackpool. Final deliveries were made in mid1942. Both the electrical and hydraulic systems were improved, but the most obvious changes were with the defensive armament. Gone was the ventral ‘bathtub’, and beam positions were introduced. Initially, these carried a single Vickers ‘K’ machine-gun each, but these were superseded by 0.303in Brownings. Mk.Is, like the other ‘baseline’ Wellington variants, the III and X, were converted to other variants. Many were also used for one-off trials – some of which are featured here.
Mk.Ic P9249 prior to delivery to 38 Squadron in January 1940.
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 22
04/10/2013 16:01
23
D
esign of the Rolls-Royce Merlin X-engined Mk.II was initiated in January 1938 and considerable work was carried out to standardise its production specification with that of the Mk.Ia. The prototype, L4250, first flew on March 3, 1939. Flight trials revealed that the slimline 1,145hp (854kW) Merlins, with propellers that revolved in the opposite direction to the radial ‘Peggies’ of the
Mk.Is produced instability in yaw. This was eventually cured by an enlarged tailplane. In 1942 L4250 was adapted in a radical manner – see the panel Big Gun. The Mk.II had an all-up weight of 33,000lb (14,968kg), 4,500lb higher than the Mk.Ic. It was 19mph (30km/h) faster and its service ceiling 5,500ft (1,676m) greater than that of the Mk.Ic. This offered a greater bomb load, or
increased range. The possibilities of the former occurred to its designer, Barnes Wallis, who suggested that the Mk.II could carry a 4,000lb bomb, later known as the ‘Cookie’. The Wellington pioneered the use of high-capacity bombs. Demands on the Merlin for other types meant that only 401 Mk.IIs were built, the last being delivered in June 1942.
II
Mk.
Two views of the prototype Mk.II, L4250, in June 1939.
B
ristol’s 14-cylinder Hercules radial was seen as the successor to the nine-cylinder ‘Peggie’, and the prototype Wellington so fitted, P9238 had its maiden flight on May 19, 1939. The first production Mk.IIIs flew with the 1,400hp (1,044kW) Hercules III; later versions adopting the 1,500hp Hercules XI. Reliability and production problems encountered with the Hercules meant that it was not until 1942
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 23
that the Mk.III entered operational service. As with the entire Wellington programme, Vickers adopted a system of ‘rolling’ improvements based on combat experience, and the Mk.III featured bullet-resistant fuel tanks, improved armour plating and wingmounted wire cutters for encounters with barrage balloon cables. The row of Perspex windows down the fuselage (adopted with the Mk.Is and Mk.IIs)
was much reduced with the Mk.III, which simplified manufacture. The Mk.III could be adapted to carry paratroops (up to ten), tow gliders, or become a torpedo-bomber, and could be tropicalised for use in the Middle East. Following trials in March 1940 the fourgun Frazer-Nash Mk.20A turret was fitted in the rear. In total, 1,519 Mk.IIIs were built – the last ones were delivered in February 1943.
III
Mk.
The first Mk.III, P9238, with blanked off rear turret. VICKERS-ARMSTRONGS
04/10/2013 16:03
24
Wellington
Special
Vickers Wellington III
Hawarden-built Mk.III BJ905 served with Operational Training Units throughout its life.
Powerplant: Dimensions:
Two 1,500hp (1,119kW) Bristol Hercules XIs Span 86ft 2in (26.26m) Length 64ft 7in (19.68m) Height 17ft 5in (5.3m)
Performance:
Max speed 255mph (410km/h) Range with 4,500lb bomb load 1,540 miles (2,478km) Service ceiling 18,000ft (5,486m)
Armament:
Bomb load, up to 4,500lb (2,041kg) 8 x 0.303in machine-guns; two in nose turret, four in rear turret, one in each beam position
All-up weight:
29,500lb (13,381kg)
IV F
Mk.
Head-on view of a Mk.III, February 1942.
Amid construction work at Hawarden – R1220, the Mk.IV prototype. VICKERS-ARMSTRONGS
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 24
rom July 1940 the possibility of fitting an American-produced engine to the Wellington was given active consideration. This resulted in the Mk.IV, powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasps. The prototype was converted from Mk.Ic R1220 at Hawarden and first flew in December 1940. Production of Mk.IVs was entirely the domain of the Hawarden plant, with 220 being created, the last were delivered in December 1942.
04/10/2013 16:06
25
I
n 1938 the Air Ministry was anxious to develop a high-flying bomber, capable of long range and altitudes beyond enemy interception – 35,000 to 40,000ft (10,668 to 12,192m). The Wellington was the obvious candidate, but its geodetic construction precluded a pressure cabin. The solution was simple, build a self-contained pressure cabin containing the crew as an entire new nose section, and attach this to a Wellington airframe. While this was a neat concept, the engineering and design efforts needed to create such a high-flyer were immense. Three crew members were encased in a cylindrical pressure shell, with the pilot underneath a dome-shaped canopy, and a small window at the front for the bomb aimer. At the rear of the shell was a circular door that looked as
T
he experience of the high-flying Mk.Vs was such that a major effort was centred on a Rolls-Royce Merlin 60-powered version. This had the ability to take a crew of five inside the pressure shell. Rated at 1,280hp (954.8kW), the Merlin 60 had a two-speed, two-stage supercharger and intercooler. This was the Mk.VI and the prototype, W5795, appeared in 1942. Up to March 1943 a total of 64 had been completed. It was hoped to put the type into operational service but this never materialised and the majority were delivered straight into storage and eventual scrapping. Like the Mk.Vs, the Mk.VIs had a remotely controlled four-gun rear turret. While the high-flying Mk.Vs and Mk.VIs may seem to have achieved little in direct terms, they advanced the knowledge of pressure shells considerably, helping the entire UK aircraft industry. Vickers used its experience in the post-war Valiant V-bomber and the incredibly successful Viscount turboprop airliner.
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 25
though it belonged in a submarine and not an aircraft. When the aircraft was at lower altitudes, the crew could stretch their legs in the rest of the airframe, retreating to the ‘tank’ when a climb to extreme height was commenced. Mk.Ics R3298 and R3299 were taken off the line and turned into the Mk.V prototypes. By September 1940 the Bristol Hercules III-powered
R3298 was flying and in October it reached 20,000ft but had to abort the climb as the pilot’s dome iced up. Before long, R3298 reached 30,000ft and although every sortie brought back a long ‘snag list’, knowledge of pressurised, high flight was increasing. Fitted with 1,650hp (1,230kW) Hercules VIIIs with an S-shaped supercharger, R3299 appeared in November 1940, but it had been decided that the Bristol radial was not suitable for sustained high-altitude experimentation. One other Mk.V was built, W5796, which was used exclusively by Bristol for engine trials. Although never adopted operationally, the Mk.V conversions were fitted with a remotely-controlled rear turret for self-defence.
V
Mk.
Detail of a Hercules VIII with S-shaped supercharger, as used in the Wellington V.
The first Mk.V, R3298 showing the radically changed forward fuselage.
VI
Mk.
Head-on view of a Mk.VI, emphasizing the tiny bubble canopy for the pilot.
04/10/2013 16:08
26
Wellington
Special
Flying Mine-Sweeper E
asily the most distinctive of all of the Wellington variants was the mine-sweeper which was developed as part of an urgent requirement in late 1939 to counter German magnetic mines. Dropped by the Luftwaffe into the waters off harbour entrances, these devices lay on the seabed until triggered by the proximity of the large magnetic field generated by a ship’s hull.
Built as a Mk.Ic and converted to DWI status, HX682 took part in mine-sweeping in the Middle East. VICKERS-ARMSTRONGS, artwork PETE WEST © 2103
A captured mine enabled the Admiralty and the Royal Aircraft Establishment to come up with a countermeasure – a low-flying aircraft generating a magnetic field mimicking that of a vessel. The theory was that the aircraft would be far (and high) enough away when the mine exploded to be safe.
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 26
Mk.Ia P2518 was taken off the line at Brooklands and in December 1939 a team, led by George Edwards, installed a 48ft (14.6m) diameter magnetic coil attached at the rear fuselage and at mid-wing. To ‘spoof’ what the new variant was for, it was designated DWI – Directional Wireless Installation.
The first version had a 35kW generator within the fuselage, driven by a Ford V8 engine, this was known as the DWI Mk.I. In later times, this installation would be known as an auxiliary power unit (APU). Greater electrical power would allow the Wellington to fly higher – and therefore with increased safety – and the DWI Mk.II’s generator was powered by a de Havilland Gipsy Six engine, developing 90kW. Four conversions are known to have been created, with up to a dozen airframes held in readiness. Trials in the waters off Suez and Tripoli proved to be very successful. The DWI Wellingtons had limited lives as the Royal Navy established ways of neutralising the magnetic field of ships; this was termed degaussing. Minesweeper ships were quickly fitted with this facility and the campaign against magnetic mines became a seaborne operation. The DWI’s pioneering of the APU had a spin-off in Wellingtons for Coastal Command – see the Mk.VIII.
04/10/2013 16:11
27
T
he Mk.VII exploited the success of the Rolls-Royce Merlin-engined Mk.II but in the end it was not built. This version was to have been powered by the two-speed, supercharged 1,390hp (1,036kW) Merlin XX.
An order for 150 was placed in May 1941 but the deal was axed three months later. With Handley Page Halifax IIs and Vs and Hawker Hurricane IIs using the Merlin XX, the argument for fitting the Wellington with this
much in-demand engine was a weak one. Mk.Ic T2545 was intended as the prototype Mk.VII but was instead used by Rolls-Royce at Hucknall as a testbed for the Merlin 60, destined for the Wellington VI.
VII
Mk.
Mk.Ic T2545 was intended as the Mk.VII prototype, but became a test-bed for the Merlin 60. ROLLS-ROYCE
VIII
Mk.
Helmore-equipped DWI T2977, April 1941.
I
n 1941, two RAF squadron leaders found themselves in competition in the English skies. This was not ‘friendly fire’, but an evaluation of two airborne searchlight systems for Coastal Command. Sqn Ldr W Helmore at the Air Ministry had come up with a battery-powered, wide-beam searchlight designed to help nightfighters. Known as the Turbinlite, it had been installed in the nose of Douglas Havocs to illuminate the target ready for a night-fighter to come in for the ‘kill’. Deployed in 1941-1942, the system had not been a great success. Sqn Ldr Humphrey de Verde Leigh at Coastal Command had developed the concept of a concentrated beam searchlight, driven by an auxiliary power unit (APU), on an aircraft fitted with air-to-surface vessel (ASV) radar. Using the ASV to locate a target, the aircraft would only illuminate the target at the last moment and let go with depth charges, torpedoes or rocket projectiles. Coastal Command wanted to evaluate both systems in the anti-
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 27
shipping and anti-submarine role. As Leigh’s scheme needed an APU, Wellington DWI P9223 was converted in February 1941 to take the retractable light in the ‘hole’ originally intended for the ventral ‘bathtub’ turret. (See the panel Flying Mine-Sweeper, left.) Helmore’s system was mounted in the nose of another DWI, T2977, in April 1941. Both DWIs had the magnetic ring removed and were designated DWI Mk.III to keep up the subterfuge. The Leigh Light, coupled with ASV. II radar – which gave it the distinctive ‘stickleback aerial array – won the day.
Vickers set about creating a long-range maritime strike aircraft for Coastal Command from the Mk.Ic. This was to be the first of a series of such variants and the start of a whole new combat career for the Wellington. In Helmore’s scheme, the Pegasus XVIIIs generated the power supply for the light through batteries and the APU was noted needed, releasing weight for weaponry or fuel. This part of his proposal was adopted for the maritime patrol ‘Wimpeys’. In total 394 Wellington VIIIs were produced, with Frazer-Nash 7A twin-gun turrets front and rear.
Leigh Light-equipped Mk.VIII HX419.
04/10/2013 16:12
28
Wellington
Special
Big Gun
Rear view of 40mm turret-equipped L4250 with the original fin and rudder.
V The twin tail arrangement adopted after early flight tests.
ickers was founded on armaments and by 1939 the Crayford works was perfecting a self-loading 40mm gun. The possibility of mounting this device within a turret on a large aircraft was first considered in February 1939. This would create the heaviest airborne firepower gun up to that time. Installation in the midfuselage of a Wellington was the easiest
IX T
Mk.
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 28
he requirement for a capacious, long-ranging, transport was pressing before sufficient examples of the ubiquitous Douglas Dakota became available. Th is requirement was particularly acute in the Middle East, where the need to move troops
element, the gun required the marrying up of a predictor unit, a sighting system and an automatic loader for 25 rounds. The prototype Mk.II L4250 was transformed and flying with the big gun by early 1942. There were major controllability issues and the fin and rudder were replaced by a new, braced, twin tail. In this guise the first trials
were carried out on March 8, 1942; when fired over the wings the 40mm projectiles succeeded in scorching the fabric! Another Mk.II, Z8416, was used for trials with the 40mm gun mounted in a fixed position in the nose. There were no further developments with the Wellington using this formidable weapon.
and/or supplies about quickly was extreme. Conversions ranged from the simple – strip out bomber equipment and cram personnel inside – to the elaborate - replacing turrets with fairings, installing flooring and seating. Up to 18 fully-equipped troops
could be taken in some versions, while others opted for a degree of comfort for staff officers. At Brooklands, Vickers attempted to standardise these conversions under the ‘paperwork’ designation Mk.IX. See also the XV and XVI.
04/10/2013 16:17
29
T
he most-produced version of the Wellington was the Mk.X, with a grand total of 3,803 coming off the lines at Hawarden and Squires Gate. The Mk.X was based on the Mk.III and externally showed little difference, but developments in alloys allowed
for a lighter structure and provided new life and greater loaded weights for the ubiquitous Wellington. Power came from 1,675hp (1,245kW) Bristol Hercules VIs or XVIs. The prototype was converted from Mk.III X3374 and the first production example, DF609,
appeared in July 1942. The last-ever Wellington was Mk.X RP590, rolled out at the Squires Gate factory on October 13, 1945 bringing the number built to 11,461. Conversions of the Mk.X produced the post-war T.10 crew trainer – see Swansong for full details.
X
Mk.
Hawarden-built Mk.X LP700 before being issued to service.
Under New Management
Mk.Ic L7842 of 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron came down during an attack on Boulogne on February 7, 1941. Keeping its 311 Squadron codes, ‘KXT’, it was flown at the Luftwaffe test centre at Rechlin. VIA ANDY THOMAS Returning home after a raid on Düsseldorf on December 5, 1940 the crew of 9 Squadron Mk.Ic T2501 encountered flak. A force-landing was carried out and all six became prisoners of war. Repaired, the ‘Wimpey’ adopted Luftwaffe markings for evaluation.
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 29
04/10/2013 16:19
30
Wellington
Special
XI XIV
Mk.
to
In his determination to air-brush out the background to this Mk.XII, the wartime censor managed to remove the fin and rudder! The radome for the ASV radar is visible at the ‘chin’ position and the retracted Leigh Light can be seen near the port mainwheel.
‘Stickleback’ equipped Mk.XIII JA105, showing the complexities of the ASV aerials.
T
he Mk.VIII started a new generation of Wellingtons for Coastal Command. The Mk.Ic airframe provided an excellent stopgap, but the Mk.X provided the mainstay for a series of variants. Both the Mk.XI and the Mk.XII had Hercules VI engines and ASV.II radar, the Mk.XII also carried the Leigh Light. The Mk.XIII and Mk.XIV were powered by Hercules XVIIs and had ASV.III. The Mk.XIII was a torpedo bomber, the Mk.XIV had the Leigh
XV A XVI
Mk. Mk.
s described in the section on the Mk.IX, a wide variety of transport versions of the Wellington were developed, and all of them ‘in the field’ conversions to meet immediate
Light and depth charges. These unsung heroes of the maritime war amounted to an impressive production run: Mk.XI 180, Mk.XII
58, Mk.XIII 844 and Mk.XIV 841. For more on the exploits of the Leigh Light-equipped Mk.XIV see Let There Be Light.
needs. To ‘tidy up’ the engineering side of such alterations, the designations Mk.XV and Mk.XVI were set aside, although these largely represented a ‘paperwork’ exercise.
At best, some transformations were given the prefi x ‘C’ – for transport – eg C.1c or C.IV. ‘T’ could not be used as it had long since been the designator for all forms of trainers.
Mk.XIs were converted at maintenance units by installing a Mosquito radar in the extreme nose and space to train two operators at stations in the fuselage. The Mk.XVIII was more sophisticated
and was a factory-built version based on the Mk.XIII, with room for four operator stations. Eighty Mk.XVIIIs were built between November 1944 and April 1945.
Built as a Mk.Ia, N2875 ended its days as a transport-configured Mk.XVI.
XVII T XVIII Thimble-nosed Mk.XVIII NC928, November 1944. ALL KEY-GORDON SWANBOROUGH COLLECTION UNLESS NOTED
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 30
he need to instruct de Havilland Mosquito night-fighter radar operators prior to their arrival on an active unit led to the creation of the first Wellington crew trainers. Surplus
04/10/2013 16:23
31
T
hroughout the Wellington programme, Vickers constantly appraised operational and production line experiences to refine the ‘baseline’ aircraft.
In an attempt to extend the longevity of an already impressive industrial success story, during 1945 the Mk.XIX appeared as an upgrade of the established ‘baseline’, the Mk.X.
A small number of Mk.XIXs were converted for use as a crew trainers, but it was to be the T.10 that became the most widely used in this role – see Swansong for full details.
XIX
Mk.
Jet-Age Wellingtons
Wellingtons played an important role in the development of jet engines, beginning in July 1942 with Mk.II Z8570 which had an early Whittle engine mounted in the extreme rear fuselage. For high-altitude testing of Whittle W2 units, Mk.IIs W5389 and W5518 were fitted with Mk.VI wings and, like Z8570, carried the jet in place of the rear turret. Illustrated is Mk.Z8570 used by RollsRoyce to test the W2B – which became the Welland. This machine first flew at Hucknall on August 9, 1942.
In 1947 Rolls-Royce converted Mk.X LN715 to act as a test-bed for the company’s Dart turboprop, ready for flight testing in the Vickers Viscount airliner in July 1948. BOTH ROLLS-ROYCE
22-31_VARIANTS.ke.indd 31
04/10/2013 16:25
32
Wellington
Special
WELLINGTON SQUADRON DIRECTORY ROYAL AIR FORCE AND ‘FREE EUROPEAN’ AIR FORCES Note: # - partial equipment only
8 Squadron An Arabian dagger sheathed Motto: Uspiam et Passim (Everywhere unbounded) Codes: none Dates: Dec 43 to May 45 Variants: XIII Theatres: MedME Role: ASW Badge:
9 Squadron A bat Per noctem volamus (Through the night we fly) Codes: KA-, WSDates: Feb 39 to Aug 42 Variants: I, Ia, Ic, III Theatres: UK Role: B Badge: Motto:
12 Squadron Badge: Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
A fox’s mask Leads the Field PHOct 40 to Nov 42 II, III UK B
14 Squadron A winged plate with a cross throughout and shoulder pieces of a suit of armour Motto: I spread my wings and keep my promise (in Arabic text) Codes: 5-, CXDates: Nov 44 to Jun 45 Variants: XIV Theatres: ASW Role: UK Badge:
15 Squadron Badge:
A hind’s head between elevated wings, conjoined in base Motto: Aim sure Code: LSDates: Nov 40 to May 41 Variants: Ic Theatres: UK Role: B
24 Squadron # A black cock In omnia parati (Ready for all things) Codes: ZK-, NQDates: Aug 40 to Dec 43 Variants: I Theatres: UK Role: T Badge: Motto:
36 Squadron Badge: Motto:
An eagle, perched on a torpedo Rajawali raja langit (Malay) (Eagle King of the sky)
Codes: 4-, RWDates: Dec 42 to Jun 45 Variants: Ic, VIII, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV Theatres: FE, MedME, UK Role: ASW
37 Squadron A hooded hawk, belled and fessed, wings elevated Motto: Wise without eyes Codes: FJ-, LFDates: May 39 to Dec 44 Variants: I, Ia, Ic, III, X Theatres: UK, MedME Role: B
Mk.I L4274 of 9 Squadron, based at Honington, 1939. PETE WEST © 2013
THEATRE DECODE UK
United Kingdom and north west Europe
Fr
France
MedME
North Africa, Malta, Italy, Mediterranean, Balkans, Gulf and Arabia
SA
South Africa
WA
West Africa
FE
India, Burma
Badge:
57 Squadron
A heron flying Ante lucem (Before the dawn) Codes: NH-, HDDates: Nov 38 to Jun 46 Variants: I, Ia, Ic, III, VIII, X, XI, XIII, XIV Theatres: UK, MedME Role: B, CTB, ASW
A phoenix rising from blazing wood Motto: Corpus non animum muto (I change my body not my spirit) Code: DXDates: Nov 40 to Feb 42 Variants: Ic, II, III Theatres: UK Role: B
40 Squadron
69 Squadron
A broom Hostem coelo expellier (To drive the enemy from the sky) Code: BLDates: Nov 40 to Mar 45 Variants: Ic, III, X, Theatres: UK, MedME Role: B
Badge:
38 Squadron Badge: Motto:
Badge: Motto:
Badge:
A telescope in front of an anchor Motto: With vigilance we serve Codes: None Dates: Aug 42 to Aug 43# Mar 44 to Aug 45 Variants: Ic, VIII, XIII Theatres: MedME, UK Role: PR
33
70 Squadron Badge: Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
A demi-winged lion Usquam (Anywhere) SJSep 40 to Feb 45 Ic, III, X MedME B
75 (New Zealand) Squadron A tiki (carving) in front of two crossed mining hammers Motto: Ake ake kia kaha (Maori) (For ever and ever been strong) Codes: FO-, AADates: Jul 39 to Oct 42 Variants: I, Ia, Ic, III Theatres: UK Role: B Badge:
93 Squadron # An escarabuncle (eight rods radiating from a hub) Motto: Ad arma parati (Ready for battle) Code: HNDates: Mar 41 to May 42# Variants: Ic Theatres: UK Role: Mine-laying Badge:
99 Squadron Badge: Motto: Codes: Dates:
A leaping puma Quisque tenax (Each tenacious) VF-, LNOct 38 to Dec 43
A Mk.II of 12 Squadron in 1940. KEC
Variants: I, Ia, Ic, III, X, Theatres: UK, FE Role: B
101 Squadron A lion rampant within tower battlements Motto: Mens agitat molem (Mind over matter) Code: SRDates: Apr 41 to Oct 42 Variants: Ic, III Theatres: UK Role: B Badge:
103 Squadron A swan, wings raised Nili me tangere (Touch me not) Code: PMDates: Oct 40 to Jul 42 Variants: Ic Theatres: UK Role: B Badge: Motto:
104 Squadron Badge: Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
A winged thunderbolt Strike hard EPApr 41 to Mar 45 II, X UK, MedME B
108 Squadron An oak leaf Viribus contractis (With gathering strength) Code: None Dates: Aug 41 to Nov 42 Variants: Ic Badge: Motto:
Theatres: MedME Role: B
Theatres: UK, MedME Role: B
109 Squadron #
149 Squadron
Badge: Motto:
A panther, rampant Primi hastati (The first of the legion) Code: HSDates: Jan 41 to Jul 42 Variants: Ic, VI Theatres: UK Role: Target-marking development
Badge:
115 Squadron
150 Squadron
A right hand holding a tiller Motto: Despite the elements Codes: BK-, KODates: Apr 39 to Mar 43 Variants: I, Ia, Ic, III Theatres: UK Role: B
Badge:
Badge:
142 Squadron Badge: Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
A winged sphinx Determination QTNov 40 to Oct 44 II, IV, III, X UK, MedME B
148 Squadron Two battle axes, crossed Motto: Trusty Codes: BS-, FSDates: Mar 39 to Apr 40 Apr to May 40 Dec 40 to Dec 42 Variants: I, Ic, II Badge:
A horseshoe and a lightning flash Motto: Fortis nocte (Strong by night) Codes: LY-, OJDates: Jan 39 to Dec 41 Variants: I, Ia, Ic Theatres: UK Role: B Two arrows, crossed, in front of a cross Motto: Always ahead (Greek script) Code: JNDates: Oct 40 to Oct 44 Variants: Ic, III, X Theatres: UK, MedME Role: B
ROLE DECODE B
Bomber
ASW
Anti-submarine warfare
EW
Electronic warfare
CTB
Coastal strike and torpedo-bomber
ASR
Air-sea rescue
Met
Meteorological reconnaissance
PR
Strategic & tactical photographic reconnaissance
U
Second line utility – radar calibration, anti-aircraft co-operation, target facilities and communications
Trg
Training
T
Transport
34
Wellington
Special
Mk.Ia N2990 ‘Duke of Cornwall’ of 24 Squadron, Hendon, 1942. KEY COLLECTION
156 Squadron Mercury holding a torch Motto: We light the sky Code: GTDates: Feb 42 to Jan 43 Variants: Ic, III Theatres: UK Role: B Badge:
158 Squadron A circular chain, in seven links Motto: Strength in unity Code: NPDates: Feb to Jun 42 Variants: II Theatres: UK Role: B Badge:
161 Squadron # Badge: Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
An open fetterlock Liberate MASep 41 to Mar 42 Ic UK Special Duties
162 Squadron # Badge: Motto: Code: Dates:
A bat‘s head in front of a meteor One time, one purpose None Jan to Jul 42 Sep 43 to Sep 44
Mk.Ic T2508 of 37 Squadron being refuelled and bombed-up in the Middle East. PETER GREEN COLLECTION
Variants: Ic, III, X, DWI Theatres: MedME Role: EW, B, Mine-sweeping
166 Squadron Badge: Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
A bulldog Tenacity ASJan to Sep 43 III, X UK B
172 Squadron Badge: Motto:
A gannet flying in front of a castle tower Insidiantibus insidiamur (We ambush the ambusher)
Codes: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
WN-, 1-, OGApr 42 to Jun 45 VIII, XII, XIV UK ASW
179 Squadron A lantern in front of a harpoon Motto: Delentem deleo (I destroy the destroyer) Code: OZDates: Sep 42 to Nov 44 Variants: VIII, XIV Theatres: UK, Gibraltar Role: ASW Badge:
192 Squadron # Badge:
An owl’s head and lightning flash
Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
Dare to discover DTJan 43 to Mar 45 Ic, III, X UK EW
196 Squadron A mailed fist, holding a dagger, hilt downwards Motto: Sic fidem servamus (Thus we keep faith) Code: ZODates: Dec 42 to Jul 43 Variants: X Theatres: UK Role: B Badge:
35
Below: Middle East-based Mk.Ic DV554 of 70 Squadron. VIA ANDY THOMAS Bottom: A Wellington XIII of ‘B’ Flight 69 Squadron at Eindhoven, Holland, mid-1945. The rare use of nose-art also stands in for a sortie tally – marked on the lady’s handbag. PETER GREEN COLLECTION
199 Squadron
215 Squadron
Two swords in front of a fountain Motto: Let tyrants tremble Code: EXDates: Nov 42 to Jul 43 Variants: III, X Theatres: UK Role: B
Badge: Motto:
203 Squadron
221 Squadron
A winged sea horse Motto: Occidens oriensque (West and east) Codes: None Dates: Nov 43 to Oct 44 Variants: XIII Theatres: FE Role: ASW
Badge: Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
Badge:
Badge:
214 Squadron A nightjar in flight Ulter in umbris (Avenging in the shadows) Codes: UX-, BUDates: May 39 to Apr 42 Variants: I, Ia, Ic, II Theatres: UK Role: B Badge: Motto:
A porcupine Sugite nox adest (Arise, night is at hand) Codes: BH-, LGDates: Jul 39 to Aug 44 Variants: I, Ia, Ic, X Theatres: UK, FE Role: B A flying fish From sea to sea DFDec 40 to Aug 45 Ic, VIII, XI, XII, XIII UK, MedME ASW, CTB
232 Squadron # A dragon-ship under sail Motto: Strike Codes: None Dates: Nov 44 to Feb 45 Variants: XVI Theatres: UK Role: T Badge:
242 Squadron # Badge:
A moose’s head
Toujours prét (Always ready) Codes: None Dates: Nov 44 to Feb 45 Variants: XVI Theatres: UK Role: T Motto:
244 Squadron Badge: Motto: Codes: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
None None None Feb 44 to May 45 XIII MedME ASW
281 Squadron # The head of a St Bernard dog, with barrel Motto: Volamus servaturi (We fly to serve) Codes: None Dates: Sep to Oct 45 Variants: XIII, XIV Theatres: UK Role: ASR Badge:
294 Squadron # An eagle, flying, carrying a lifebelt Motto: Vix ex undis abrepta (Life snatched from the waves) Codes: None Dates: Sep 43 to Apr 46 Variants: Ic, XI, XIII Theatres: MedME Role: ASR Badge:
300 (Polish) Squadron Badge: Name: Code: Dates:
Shield, red and white quarters, winged eagle, lion Mazowiecki BHOct 40 to Apr 44
Variants: Ic, IV, III, X Theatres: UK Role: B
301 (Polish) Squadron Winged eagle, griffon and mermaid Name: Pomorski Code: GRDates: Oct 40 to Apr 43 Variants: Ic, IV Theatres: UK Role: B Badge:
304 Squadron Winged bomb, half RAF roundel and Polish ‘square’ Name: Slaski Codes: NZ-, 2-, QDDates: Nov 40 to Jan 46 Variants: Ic, III, X, XIII, XIV Theatres: UK Role: B, ASW Badge
305 (Polish) Squadron Badge: Name: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
Arrow in quiver Weilkopolski SMNov 40 to Sep 43 Ic, II, IV, X UK B
311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron A thresher and a morning star Motto: Na mnozstui nehledte (Never regard their numbers) Code: KXDates: Aug 40 to Jul 43 Variants: Ia, Ic Theatres: UK Role: B, ASW Badge:
36
Wellington
Special
Rare image of Mk.Ic P2521 of 161 Squadron, based at Tempsford and used by the SIS for wireless monitoring duties. M WHINNEY VIA ANDY THOMAS
344 (French) Squadron Motto: Codes: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
None None Nov 43 to Nov 45 XI, XIII WA ASW
524 Squadron Vis incidit ardens fulminis (The blazing power of the thunderbolt falls) Code: 7RDates: Apr 44 to May 45 Variants: XIII, XIV Theatres: UK Role: CTB Motto:
527 Squadron # Badge: Motto:
A crystal in front of a lightning flash Silently we serve
A Middle East-based Mk.Ic of 108 Squadron, 1941. VIA ANDY THOMAS
Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
WNApr 45 to Apr 46 X UK U
544 Squadron # Badge: Motto: Codes: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
A gannet in flight Quaero (I seek) None Oct 42 to Mar 43 X UK PR
612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron A thistle in front of a crossed trident and harpoon Motto: Vigilando custodimus (We stand guard by vigilance) Codes: WL-, 3-, 8WDates: Nov 42 to Jul 45 Variants: VIII, XII, XIV Theatres: UK Role: ASW Badge:
547 Squadron
621 Squadron
A kingfisher diving Celer ad caedendum (Swift to strike) Codes: None Dates: Nov 42 to Nov 43 Variants: VIII, XI, XIII Theatres: UK Role: CTB
Badge: Motto:
Badge: Motto:
A hooded cobra Ever ready to strike Codes: None Dates: Sep 43 to Dec 45 Variants: XIII, XIV Theatres: MedME Role: ASW
ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE 458 Squadron Ivenimus et delemus (We find and destroy) Codes: FU-, MDDates: Sep 41 to Jun 45 Variants: IV, Ic, VIII, XIII, XIV Theatres: UK, MedME Role: B, CTB, ASW Motto:
459 Squadron # Motto: Codes: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
None None Mar to Apr 45 XIV UK ASW
37
Left: Mk.XII HF167 of 172 Squadron, based at Limavady, circa 1944. VIA ANDY THOMAS Bottom: Mk.II W5442 of 214 Squadron, based at Stradishall, 1942. KEY COLLECTION
460 Squadron Kangaroo in front of a boomerang Motto: Strike and return Code: UVDates: Nov 41 to Aug 42 Variants: IV Theatres: UK Role: B Badge:
466 Squadron Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
None HDOct 42 to Sep 43 III, X UK B
ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE 405 Squadron Name: Badge: Motto:
Vancouver Eagle’s head, holding a maple leaf in its beak Ducimus (We lead)
Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
LQApr 41 to Apr 42 II UK B
407 Squadron Demon A winged trident piercing the shank of an anchor Motto: To hold on high Codes: 1-, 2-, C1Dates: Jan 43 to Jun 45 Variants: X, XI, XI, XIV Theatres: UK Role: ASW Name: Badge:
415 Squadron # Swordfish A swordfish Ad metam (To the mark) Code: NHDates: Sep 43 to Jul 44 Variants: XIII Theatres: UK Role: CTB Name: Badge: Motto:
419 Squadron Moose A moose Moosa aswayita (Beware of the moose) Code: VRDates: Jan to Nov 42 Variants: Ic, III Theatres: UK Role: B Name Badge: Motto:
420 Squadron Snowy owl A snowy owl Pugnamus finitum (We fight to a finish) Code: PTDates: Aug 42 to Oct 43 Variants: III, X Theatres: UK Role: B Name: Badge: Motto:
424 Squadron Name: Badge: Motto:
Tiger A heraldic tiger’s head Castigandos castigamus
:
(We chastise those who deserve to be chastised) Code: QBDates: Dec 42 to Oct 43 Variants: III, X Theatres: UK, MedME Role: B
425 Squadron Alouette (lark) A lark in flight Je te plumerai (I shall pluck you) Codes: KWDates: Jul 42 to Oct 43 Variants: III, X Theatres: UK, MedME Role: B Name: Badge: Motto:
426 Squadron Name: Badge: Motto: Code: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
Thunderbird A thunderbird On wings of fire OWOct 42 to Jul 43 III, X UK B
38
Wellington
Special
Mk.XIV HF268 of 304 (Polish) Squadron, based at St Eval, 1945. PETE WEST © 2013 Bottom: Mk.Ic W5674 was converted to serve with 221 Squadron (illustrated) in the Middle East as a Mk.VIII. KEY COLLECTION
427 Squadron Lion Lion and maple leaf Ferte manus certas (Strike sure) Code: ZLDates: Nov 42 to May 43 Variants: III, X Theatres: UK Role: B Name: Badge: Motto:
428 Squadron Ghost A death’s head Usque ad finem (To the very end) Code: NADates: Nov 42 to Jun 43 Variants: III, X Theatres: UK Role: B Name: Badge: Motto:
429 Squadron Bison A bison Fortunae nihil (Nothing to chance) Code: ALDates: Nov 42 to Aug 43 Variants: III, X Theatres: UK Role: B Name: Badge: Motto:
431 Squadron Name: Badge:
Iroquois An Iroquois Indian’s head
The haiten ronteriios (Warriors of the Sky) Code: SEDates: Dec 42 to Jul 43 Variants: X Theatres: UK Role: B Motto:
432 Squadron Leaside A leaping cougar in front of a full moon Motto: Saeviter ad lucem (Ferociously towards the light) Code: QODates: May to Oct 43 Variants: X Theatres: UK Role: B Name: Badge:
ROYAL NEW ZEALAND AIR FORCE New Zealand Flight Motto: Codes: Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
None None Jun 39 to Apr 40 I, Ia UK B
SOUTH AFRICAN AIR FORCE 17 Squadron Pro re nata (As the occasion arises) Codes: None Dates: May to Sep 45 Variants: XII Theatres: MedME Role: CTB Motto:
26 Squadron Elephant in front of a palm tree and water Motto: None Codes: None Dates: May 43 to May 45 Variants: XI Theatres: WA Role: ASW Badge:
27 Squadron A winged shield with a warship, a bomb and a mine Motto: Protegimus (We protect) Codes: None Dates: Feb to Mar 45 Variants: XV Theatres: MedME Role: ASW Badge:
28 Squadron # Hart’s head over a winged ‘28’ Motto: Portamus (We carry) Codes: None Dates: Jul to Dec 43 Variants: Ic Theatres: MedME Role: T Badge:
AÉRONAVALE: FRENCH NAVAL AIR ARM Flottille 2F Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
Nov 45 to Jun 53 XIII, XIV WA ASW
Flottille 23F Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
Jun 53 to 1955 XIII, XIV WA ASW
Flottille 55S Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
1948 to 1952 XIII, XIV MedME U
39
Left: A Wellington III of 419 ‘Moose’ Squadron RCAF. KEY COLLECTION Below: Mk.XIIIs of the French Navy’s Flotille 55S, late 1940s. VIA ANDY THOMAS Bottom: Mk.III X3763 of 425 ‘Alouette’ Squadron RCAF. KEY COLLECTION
ROYAL HELLENIC AIR FORCE 13 (Hellenic) Squadron Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
Jun 45 to 47 XIII MedME T
355 Squadron # Dates: Variants: Theatres: Role:
1947-? XIII, XIV MedME T, B
40
Wellington
Special
Above: Mk.I NZ303 of the New Zealand Flight at Marham, July 1939. VIA ANDY THOMAS Middle: Mk.X HE239 of 428 Squadron RCAF, based at Middleton St George, 1943. PETE WEST © 2013 Botttom: Wellington X RP550 in the colours of 1689 Flight, based at Aston Down and used for ferry pilot training, 1946-1949. KEY COLLECTION
THE FIRST AWACS? The Telecommunications Flying Unit at Defford served as the flying arm of the extensive Telecommunications Research Establishment. TRE had a wide remit, but its most important work lay with the development of all formed of radar. Wellington Ic R1629, illustrated, served with TRU during 1942 and featured an unusual radar array on the upper fuselage. The array was capable of spinning, in a similar the present-day Boeing Sentry AEW.1s airborne warning and control system (AWACS) patrollers based at Waddington. BOTH PETER GREEN COLLECTION
41
OTHER BRITISH WELLINGTON UNITS Advanced Flying Schools: Post-war multi-engined crew training, 201, 202 Air Gunners Schools: 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12 Air Navigation Schools: Post-war aircrew training, Wellington T.10s: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 10 Communications Flights: 205 Group, Aden, Malta Conversion Units: 1651, 1665 Ferry Pilot’s Pool: 9 FPP - Air Transport Auxiliary Ferry Training Units: 301, 303, 304, 310, 311 Flights: 420 (mine-laying trials), 1417 (Leigh
Light trials), 1418 (‘Gee’ trials), 1429 (Czechoslovak crew training), 1443 (ferry flight training), 1473 (radio countermeasures), 1474 (radar intelligence), 1481 (target facilities), 1483 (target facilities), 1485 (target facilities), 1502 (beam approach training), 1503 (beam approach training), 1505 (beam approach training), 1680 (comms), 1689 (ferry pilot training) Flying Refresher Schools: Post-war, re-training/validation of bomber crews, 101, 104 Middle East Training Schools: 2 (bomber refresher courses), 5 (torpedo training) Operational Training Units: Coastal Command: 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 111, Polish: 18, Others: 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 51, 54, 55, 61, 62, 63, 76, 77, 78, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 104, 105
Above: The crew of a Mk.X of 24 OTU ‘B’ Flight practising single-engine flying over Evesham in 1944. B H KEDWARD VIA ANDY THOMAS Below: Line-up of Wellington T.10s of 2 Air Navigation School at Middleton St George, July 1948. BARRY GELDING
Transport Conversion Units: 1380, 1381, 1383 228 Operational Conversion Unit Post-war night and all-weather fighter crew training, Wellington XVIIIs General Reconnaissance Units: Mine-sweeping with DWI versions - 1, 2, 3 Fleet Air Arm: Wellington Is, IIs, Xs, XIs and XIVs served in small numbers as partial equipment with the following second line squadrons: 716 (School of Safety Equipment), 728 (Fleet Requirements Unit), 736 (School of Air Combat), 758 (Advanced Instrument Flying School), 762 (Twin-engine Conversion Unit), 765 (radar calibration), 783 (Air-to-Surface Vessel radar training) Miscellaneous and Trials Units: 1 Torpedo Training Unit, 1 Air to Surface Vessel (Radar) Training Centre, 1 Radar Training School, 1 Air Armament School, 2
Flying Training Conversion Unit, 2 School of General Reconnaissance, Bomber Command Instructors School, Signals Flying Unit, Aircraft Delivery Unit, Sea Rescue Flight Coastal Command Development Unit, AirSea Warfare Development Unit, Air Fighting Development Unit, Fighter Interception Development Squadron Empire Air Navigation School (EANS), Central Navigation School, Central Navigation and Control School, Central Flying School Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE), Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough and outposts. Telecommunications Flying Unit, Defford see panel, left.
42
Wellington
Special
LIGHT LET THERE BE
A
fter two years of ‘ops’ in the Mediterranean the personnel of 14 Squadron regrouped at Chivenor, Devon, in November 1944. Four Wellington XIVs awaited them – very different machines to the Martin Marauders they had grown used to. Adapted to carry the Mk.VI radar, monitored by an extra crew member, the Mk.XIV was intended to search for U-boats on the surface. Mounted in the belly was a hydraulicallyoperated retractable searchlight, the Leigh Light, which could be used in the final stages of a night attack. Flying started on November 30, but was severely curtailed by the weather and poor serviceability. The latter improved as the groundcrews became more familiar with their new charges, but the climate remained a major factor throughout the winter.
Light_42-47.ke.indd 42
MICHAEL NAPIER DESCRIBES HOW 14 SQUADRON USED SEARCHLIGHT-EQUIPPED WELLINGTONS TO STALK U-BOATS AT NIGHT
TH BOMB ”WE TURNED, OPENED UP BO ATIONS DOORS, TOOK UP ACTION ST AND WENT INTO THE ATTACK.”
04/10/2013 14:21
43
Mk.XIV NB828 at Chivenor in early 1945 with the more conventional unit codes for 14 Squa dron, ‘CX’.
MARK POSTLETHWAITE WW2IMAGES
Aircrew of 14 Squadron in front of a Wellington at Chivenor, March 1945. LORD DERAMORE
Light_42-47.ke.indd 43
04/10/2013 14:21
44
Wellington
Special
”YOU WOULD AIM TO BE AT 50FT AT A MILE FROM THE CONTACT.” The rigid discipline of nighttime anti-submarine patrols was in stark contrast to the fluidity of the low-level coastal runs flown in the Marauders. Wellington crews had to work very closely as a team: flying on instruments, pilots relied on the navigator to keep them in the correct area while the radar operator searched the sea for targets.
Don’t look up Once a contact was found, the radar operator would take over and provide steering so that the pilots could home onto it for a Leigh Light-assisted attack. As part of the training phase this procedure was practised in an exercise codenamed bathmat during which a Royal Navy minesweeper was positioned in the Bristol Channel so that crews could carry out the search and homing profile. Fg Off J P Robertson thought the Leigh Light “was a very good weapon, although it made the aircraft somewhat difficult to fly at the low altitude you
Light_42-47.ke.indd 44
had to use in the attack. When you got a contact you positioned yourself about 7 miles away at 1,000ft and then homed in using instruments with the second pilot in the nose ready to lower the light. You would aim to be at 50ft at a mile from the contact. Height was measured by a radio altimeter which showed a green light if you were at 50ft, the optimum height for dropping a depth charge, a red light if you were below that and an amber light if you were above about 55ft. “In any swell, and there always seemed to be one in the Atlantic, you got a series of green to red to green to amber to green... Then, to add to the excitement when you lowered the light for the final run in ... it hung under the belly of the aircraft and made it longitudinally unstable. The pièce de résistance was the natural tendency for the pilot to lift his head and fly visually to the target. This was fatal: the pilot was blinded by the beam, lost orientation and with an unstable aircraft at 50ft simply went in.”
Top: ‘Chuff’ Hornby’s crew witnessed the dispatch of U681 by a US Navy Liberator in March 1945. Left to right: W/O L T Copp, Sgt R Unsworth, Plt Off J W A Lowder, Flt Lt A N Hornby DFM, Flt Sgt K E Williams, Flt Sgt A W Hoyle. J W A LOWDER
The beginning of 1945 was chiefly memorable for the squadron’s first two flying accidents. In the first, on January 23, Fg Off R W Stewart crashed HF123 on take-off. He had attempted to get airborne with full nose-down trim applied and when he ran out of runway he could only stop by raising the undercarriage; the Wellington did indeed stop, but it then caught fire and was burnt out. Happily the crew escaped unscathed. The following night, 25-year-old Tasmanian Fg Off C J Campbell was flying on a bathmat exercise just off the island of Lundy. As he manoeuvred in the final stage of a practice attack the aircraft, MF450, flew into the sea, possibly as a result of the disorientation described by Robertson. Campbell, his navigator Plt Off J M J Rowland and wireless operator Sgt L M Lewis were all picked up by a minesweeper, but the rest of the crew died in the crash. Unfortunately Rowland and Lewis both succumbed to exposure and shock, and both died shortly afterwards, leaving
04/10/2013 14:21
45
”THE INTENSE CONCENTRATION NEEDED FOR TEN HOURS’ INSTRUMENT FLYING WAS EXTREMELY EXHAUSTING.”
Campbell as the only survivor. The next day a heavy snowfall closed Chivenor for three days. The unit’s first operational sortie in a Wellington, a ten-hour anti-submarine detail in St George’s Channel, was flown by Sqn Ldr Hadingham on the night of February 2 in NB835. The second was followed three nights later by Capt Martin Overed SAAF in the same aeroplane, in high winds over a very rough sea.
Beaten to it Over the month, the frequency slowly built up so that by March the unit was typically flying five operations a night. On the morning of March 11 Fg Off ‘Chuff ’ Hornby’s crew was in K-for-King near the Scillies. With an unserviceable anti-surface vessel (ASV) radar, the crew had to resort to keeping a good visual lookout. W/O Lowder, the ASV operator, recalled: “At about 08:30 we sighted a Liberator of 103 Squadron US Navy [VPB-103] flying parallel with us on
Light_42-47.ke.indd 45
Top: HF386 at Chivenor in late 1944. The base’s Wellington units were originally denoted by a number, in 14 Squadron’s case ‘5’.
Above: Wellington XIV NB869 was issued to 14 Squadron on November 21, 1944. It landed short on the runway at St Merryn on April 21, 1945 and hit a bus, ending its career. The crew of six were all unharmed. PETE WEST © 2013
a patrol at 8 miles distance. About 5 miles from Bishop’s Rock it turned sharply away, diving. We turned too and saw a surfaced ‘sub’ sitting nice and pretty. The Liberator dropped its depth charges and as we drew near, the sea heaved and swallowed the submarine completely. We turned, opened up both bomb doors, took up action stations and went into the attack. “As we drew nearer we saw the sub sinking stern first and the crew milling about in the water. Some were floating lifeless, some wallowed in the waves and some were on collapsible rubber rafts waving like hell, presumably to draw attention to the fact that they were helpless and didn’t want another stick of explosives.”
Seeing the survivors, Hornby broke off the attack and returned to his patrol area. The Operations Diary noted ruefully that: “it was the worst luck in the world that this crew should have missed what might have proved to be the squadron’s first U-boat through unserviceable equipment.” The crew had at least witnessed the sinking of the U681 by Lt Field’s US Navy Liberator.
Boring and unrewarding Anti-submarine patrols were a relentless and very unglamorous chore, usually carried out in darkness, frequently in very bad weather. The fact that most of 14’s ‘ops’ were completed without incident was a
”ROBERTSON RETURNED TO BASE WITH MINIMUM FUEL AFTER NEARLY 11 HOURS IN THE AIR.” 04/10/2013 14:21
46
Wellington
Special
good measure of the strategic success of Coastal Command’s campaign. Wg Cdr Donovan, the CO, found that: “the intense concentration needed for ten hours’ instrument flying was extremely exhausting.” His navigator from Marauder days, Fg Off R A Yarburgh-Bateson, described patrols as “singularly boring and unrewarding”. The wireless operator/air gunners felt the pressure too, Fg Off Lowder recorded that: “the length of time in the air certainly knocks everyone up… Also having to stare into the radar screen… gave [us] headaches.” Discomfort of long hours spent being buffeted by turbulence at low level was also keenly felt by crews, YarburghBateson described being: “desperately air-sick after five hours of vomiting”, and by the end of ten hours’ misery he “looked like the wreck of the Hesperus”.
Wellington NB869 at St Merryn after Flt Lt C A Duncan overran the short runway and hit a bus on April 21, 1945. FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM
Disastrous days April 18, 1945 was one of the most disastrous days in 14’s history. That evening six crews launched for routine anti-submarine patrols. Flt Lt Overed took off in NB858 just after 21:00 heading for the Western Approaches. Four hours later an SOS call was received from the aircraft, but there
Light_42-47.ke.indd 46
Australian Fg Off John Robertson, who like most of the pilots had previously flown Marauders, adapting to the cold in Devon. ALL IMAGES VIA AUTHOR
04/10/2013 14:22
47
A wrecked Wellington XIV at Alghero, Sardinia, in August 1944. Of particular interest is the Leigh Light mounting which can be clearly seen in the fuselage section on the right. COLIN CAMPBELL
”THIS WAS FATAL: THE PILOT WAS BLINDED BY THE BEAM, LOST ORIENTATION AND WITH AT AN UNSTABLE AIRCRAFT.” 50FT SIMPLY WENT IN was no further response from the crew, despite numerous transmissions instructing them to give more details of their situation. Fg Off Robertson was diverted to mount a search. After staying on station for as long as he dared, Robertson returned to base with minimum fuel after nearly 11 hours in the air. Some days later the body of Flt Sgt J J Brophy, a 22-year-old Liverpudlian, was washed ashore in northern Spain near Bilbao. Canadian Flt Lt Mervin C Hogg had taken off in NB875 a few minutes earlier than Overed. Just before midnight he sent a radio message that he was experiencing a fuel leak and that he would divert to St Eval, in Cornwall. It was a clear night and the aircraft reached St Eval safely. Hogg flew over the airfield before turning to position for an approach onto the southeasterly runway, but disaster struck and NB875 hit the cliffs a few miles short of the runway, and burst into flames, killing all aboard. A hasty Court of Inquiry was assembled, which found that the most likely cause was that 24-yearold Hogg, who was an experienced former Marauder captain, had lost control after becoming overcome by fuel fumes. The loss of two crews led by popular and long-serving captains was a severe
Light_42-47.ke.indd 47
blow to the unit and also a tragic end to Wg Cdr Donovan’s tenure in command. Donovan, who had served with 14 Squadron since 1942, handed command to Wg Cdr G I Pawson on April 20.
Winged Crusaders This feature was abridged and adapted from Michael Napier’s book Winged Crusaders - The Exploits of 14 Squadron RFC and RAF 1915-1945, published by Pen & Sword. The unit flew operationally during World War One in the Middle East, re-grouping to fight the Italians in Eritrea with Wellesleys in 1940. With Blenheims, 14 Squadron fought in the Desert War, before converting to Marauders and finally Wellington XIVs. A very readable book with plenty of original illustrations and supported by maps and appendices, this hardback retails at £25. More details on www.pen-and-sword.co.uk
Winding down Routine patrols continued but it was clear that the war in Europe was fast coming to an end. There was some excitement aboard Q-for-Queen flown by Flt Lt Hazelwood on April 27 when they were diverted to support two corvettes reportedly under attack by a U-boat. Hazelwood remained on station until he reached minimum fuel, but he was unable to locate the submarine. On Victory in Europe Day (May 8) Flt Lt Walker’s sortie gave him the distinction of having flown operationally on both the first and last days of the war – he was a Blenheim gunner in September 1939. Over the next few weeks, the flying commitment slowly wound down and the Operations Diary recorded an “accent on sport now”. Chivenor reverted to peacetime working practices on May 26, with weekends off. No.14 Squadron’s last ‘op’ of the war was flown on the 29th by the New Zealander Flt Lt C M Gibbs DFC in NB821 to escort a convoy into the Irish Sea. Two days later all the unit’s Wellingtons were grounded.
04/10/2013 14:22
TO YOUR FAVOURITE MAGAZINE TODAY...
FLYPAST is internationally regarded as the magazine for aviation history and heritage. FlyPast pioneered the reporting of ‘living aviation history’ and still leads the field today. Each issue is packed with news and features on warbird preservation and restoration, museums, and the airshow scene. Subjects regularly profiled include British and American aircraft type histories, as well as those of squadrons and units from World War One to the Cold War.
www.flypast.com
As the UK’s best selling military history title, BRITAIN AT WAR is dedicated in exploring every aspect of Britain’s involvement in conflicts from the turn of the 20th century through to modern day. From World War I to the Falklands, World War II to Iraq, readers are able to relive decisive moments in Britain’s history through fascinating insight combined with rare and previously unseen photography.
www.britainatwar.com
ALS O AVAIL AB L E DIG ITAL LY: iTunes Available on PC, Mac, Blackberr y and Windows 8 from
PC, Mac & Windows 8
As Britain’s longest established monthly aviation journal, AVIATION NEWS is renowned for providing the best coverage of every branch of aviation. Now incorporating Classic Aircraft, each issue features latest news and in-depth features, plus firsthand accounts from pilots putting you in the cockpit. Covering both modern military and civil aircraft as well as classic types from yesteryear, Aviation News brings you the past, present and future of flight.
www.aviation-news.co.uk
AIRFORCES MONTHLY magazine is devoted to modern military aircraft and their air arms, it provides the best military aviation news coverage from its global network of correspondents and is essential reading for anyone seeking a well-informed view. AirForces Monthly has built up a formidable reputation worldwide by reporting from places not generally covered by other military magazines.
www.airforcesmonthly.com
ALS O AVA I L A B L E DI G I TA L LY: iTunes
PC, Mac & Windows 8
Available on PC, Mac, Blackberr y and Windows 8 from
FOR THE LATEST SUBSCRIPTION DEALS VISIT: www.keypublishing.com/shop
683/13
PHONE: (UK) 01780 480404 (Overseas) +44 1780 480404
50
Wellington
Special
Command
Backbone A Wellington Ic of 214 Squadron clawing its way out of Stradishall in 1941. A PRICE
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 50
“W
ithout the We l l i n g t o n during the first three years Bomber Command would have been totally ineffective, and could never have maintained its constant assault on Germany.” That is how the
Air Officer Commanding of 3 Group from 1939 to 1942, Air Marshal Sir John Baldwin, summed up the importance of the ‘Wimpey’. On the evening of October 10, 1938, the first Wellington I was delivered to 99 Squadron at Mildenhall, replacing obsolescent Handley Page (HP)
Heyford biplanes. The following month, 38 Squadron at Marham followed suit and both units were fully equipped by January 1939. By then 149, also at Mildenhall, had begun receiving them with 9 Squadron at Honington taking delivery in February. The squadrons were all part of 3
04/10/2013 12:35
51
”MOST OF THE TEN SURVIVING WELLINGTONS THAT REACHED ENGLAND BORE THE SCARS OF BATTLE.”
TOM SPENCER CHARTS THE VITAL ROLE OF THE WELLINGTON AND ITS CREWS IN THE ONSLAUGHT ON OCCUPIED EUROPE Group, and through the spring and early summer six more (37, 75, 115, 148, 214 and 215) re-equipped with the new bomber. Nos 75 and 148 were designated as Group Pool units for operational training. In addition, at Marham the New Zealand Flight was receiving
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 51
Wellingtons bought for the RNZAF before ferrying them home. On the declaration of war on September 3, the New Zealand Government, with typical generosity, offered the unit to the RAF. No.75 Squadron was absorbed into 15 Operational Training Unit (OTU) In the spring of 1940 and
the NZ Flight was re-designated as 75 (New Zealand) Squadron, going on to have a distinguished Bomber Command career. When war was declared, most units temporarily dispersed from their permanent bases but with 214 and 215 being redesignated as reserves,
04/10/2013 12:36
52
Wellington
Special
Czech 311 Squadron was the first Wellington unit manned by exiled Europeans. Mk.Ic R1410 flew 13 ‘ops’ with 311. ZDENEK HURT
3 Group began the war with just six operational units. All flew Mk.Is with manual nose and tail turrets, but deliveries of the Mk.Ia, equipped with power-operated nose, tail and turrets, had begun.
Repulsed by day Two aircraft of 75 (NZ) Squadron in 1940. RNZAF
Operations began immediately on the evening of September 3 when nine Wellingtons of 37 and 149 Squadrons
joined HP Hampdens on an armed reconnaissance off Wilhelmshaven. The ‘rules of engagement’ only allowed the bombing of vessels on the high seas, but the following afternoon 14 aircraft from 9 and 149 found the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau off Brunsbüttel and attacked in the face of a barrage of flak. As they left the target area the bombers were targeted by waiting
Messerschmitt Bf 109Ds of I/JG 77, and the Wellingtons of Flt Sgts Borley and Turner of 9 Squadron were shot down by Fws Alfred Held and Hans Troitsch. No.9 began training on the Mk.Ia the next day. Armed recces over the North Sea continued but on the night of September 8 three aircraft of 99 became the first Wellingtons to penetrate into Germany, dropping nothing more deadly than leaflets, on Hanover. It was still believed that tight formations of bombers could successfully fight off a sustained onslaught by fighters in daylight. On the morning of December 3 a force of 24 Mk.Ias from 38, 115 and 149 hit shipping at Heligoland from 10,000ft (3,048m), claiming hits on a cruiser, though in reality they sank a trawler. As they withdrew, Bf 109Ds from I/ ZG 26 pounced but were fought off. N2879 of 38, flown by Plt Off Odoire, was attacked by Oblt Gunther Sprecht who, despite damaging the bomber, was then shot down by two bursts from LAC John Copley in the rear turret. Copley received a DFM for his efforts.
Battle of the Heligoland Bight A dozen Wellingtons from 99 set out
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 52
04/10/2013 12:36
53
in poor weather for the Heligoland Bight at low level on December 14. Off Wangerooge they were intercepted by Bf 109Es of II/JG 77 and Bf 110Cs of 1/ZG 26 which, between them, brought down half the force – just one Bf 110 being claimed by Cpl Alex Bickerstaff, rear gunner in Sqn Ldr ‘Square’ McKee’s N2958. The survivors returned, all damaged, with their bomb loads intact. Undeterred, a further raid was ordered for the morning of the 18th when Wg Cdr Kellett led 24 aircraft from 149, 9 and 37 Squadrons in boxes of six to attack shipping in fine, clear weather. Two returned early but the remainder were detected by German radar as they approached the coast: what developed became known as the ‘Battle of the Heligoland Bight’. As they headed for home the
formation was intercepted by waiting fighters ten were shot down and two more ditched. Most of the ten surviving Wellingtons that reached England bore the scars of battle. It was the end of bombing the Reich in daylight in strength.
Into the night Leaflet sorties, given the codename nickelling, continued into 1940 as the Mk.Ic began to be delivered. The next major action for Wellingtons came during the invasion of Norway which opened on April 9. Two days later an attack was made against Luftwaffe aircraft at Stavangar by 15 machines from 9 and 115, crews from the latter bombing from 1,000ft. F/Sgt Powell’s aircraft suffered three direct flak hits. Despite his wounds he brought it home and earned his unit’s
first gallantry award of the conflict. By the time 115 was re-equipped with Avro Lancasters in early 1943 it had lost 98 Wellingtons – more than any other unit in Bomber Command. The following day the RAF despatched its largest force of the war to date when 83 aircraft, including 36 Wellingtons, staged a daylight raid on shipping in a vain attempt to blunt the German assault. Attacks against Norwegian airfields continued until the invasion of France and the Low Countries on May 10 changed priorities dramatically. Initially only targets west of the Rhine could be hit but this restriction was lifted on the 15th. That night 99 bombers, including 39 Wellingtons, attacked targets in the Ruhr industrial area, so beginning the strategic offensive against Germany. The
Wellington Ia N3000 of 9 Squadron with its seldom-used ventral turret extended. T MASON
”FOR THE FIRST TIME, BRITISH BOMBERS CAME DIRECTLY OVER BERLIN, AND THEY DROPPED BOMBS. BERLINERS ARE STUNNED. WHEN THIS WAR BEGAN, GÖRING ASSURED THEM IT COULDN’T HAPPEN.” Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 53
04/10/2013 12:37
54
Wellington
Special
parlous ground situation demanded more tactically relevant objectives and so rail and road communications were hit, but to little avail; by the end of May British and French forces were being evacuated from Dunkirk. A new front opened soon after when Italy declared war on June 10. That night eight Wellingtons participated in the first strike on Italy and the next night 22 raided Genoa and Milan. German targets predominated through the summer but, owing to problems with weather and navigation, results were often poor.
More units, more losses
During the ‘Thousand Bomber’ raids in mid-1942 aircraft from OTUs were drafted in to reach that magical figure, among them this Wellesbourne Mountford-based 22 OTU crew. VIA R C B ASHWORTH
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 54
Responding to the increasing attacks, the Luftwaffe established a dedicated night-fighter arm – the Nachtjagd. Eighteen Wellingtons were part of a force that struck industrial targets in north-west Germany on July 19 but at 02:00 hours while en route to Wismar, L7795 of 9 Squadron, flown by Sqn Ldr J B S Monypenny, was shot down. The next night two Wellingtons were intercepted and brought down by Bf 110Cs of I/NJG 1. These first officially confirmed Wellington victories for the recently created Nachtjagd were an ominous portent. At that time 311 Squadron, manned by Czech personnel, was forming at Honington – the first new ‘Wimpey’ unit since 1939. A dozen more had followed by the end of the year – including the Polish-manned 300, 301, 304 and 305 Squadrons – although 37 and 38 were sent to the Mediterranean. On August 25 Berlin was attacked for the first time by a force including 21 Wellingtons. Although damage
was slight, the effect was huge, a US press correspondent writing: “For the first time British bombers came directly over the city, and they dropped bombs. Berliners are stunned. When this war began, Göring assured them it couldn’t happen.” The capital was attacked again on the next few nights, much to the irritation of the Nazi hierarchy. Shortly before midnight on the 30th, Oblt Werner Streib shot down Fg Off CraigieHalkett’s crew from 214 Squadron in the first interception directed by Würzburg ground radars With air battles raging over southern England, there was the imminent threat of invasion so the French Channel ports became the priority in what became known as the ‘Battle of the Barges’. A force of 30 Wellingtons hit shipping in
04/10/2013 12:38
55
”...THEY WERE INTERCEPTED BY BF 109ES AND BF 110CS THAT, BETWEEN THEM, BROUGHT DOWN HALF THE FORCE.” Emden and Boulogne on September 8 at the cost of two of 149’s aircraft with just a single survivor. By November the pace slackened, not least because of deteriorating weather. The ‘bombing directive’ started to specify oil targets as the highest priority, though other objectives, such as Berlin, continued to feature. Most raids included acts of gallantry, such as during a Berlin run in midNovember. Having bombed the main railway station, 115’s W2509, flown by Sgt Morson, was badly hit and an engine set on fire. With the flames extinguished, Morson headed across the inhospitable North Sea as Sgt Cleverley, the wireless operator, sent a stream of messages. Eventually they were forced to ditch but most of the crew was saved; both Morson and
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 55
Cleverley received the DFM. ‘Area bombing’ was ordered for the first time, against Mannheim, on December 16. Carried out mainly by 3 Group’s Wellingtons, eight carried incendiaries to act as markers. ‘Ops’ continued through Christmas with the last of the 133 Wellingtons lost in 1940 – 27 of them from 99 Squadron – going down on a raid against Hamm early on the 30th. It had been a long year, but worse was to follow.
First of the Canucks As dusk fell on a bitterly cold January 1, 1941, more than 100 bombers, including many Wellingtons, headed for Bremen. The clear visibility helped the crews inflict significant damage to industrial and residential areas, albeit at the cost of two machines from
301. The port was hit again on the succeeding two nights as the bomber force increased its assault, with units suffering steady losses. In the early hours of January 30 as Sgt Humphrey Smiles dfm of 214 Squadron eased his Wellington off from Stradishall, the port engine failed and the bomber hit the runway and burst into flames. One of the first on the scene was Padre Harrison who, despite the risk of explosion, helped evacuate the shocked crew – he was decorated with the George Medal. Attacks continued through the spring in the face of increasingly effective defences; two raids on Hanover and Bremen in early February costing a dozen Wellingtons – four of them from 115. The period also saw 40 and 148 move to the Middle East, their
Heavily-damaged Mk.Ia N2871 of 9 Squadron was brought into North Coates after the Wilhelmshaven raid, December 18, 1939. M J F BOWYER
04/10/2013 12:38
56
Wellington
Special
Relentless grind
Wellington III Z1572 was a determined survivor having served with 115 and 75 (NZ) Squadrons before joining Canadian 419 (illustrated) which in turn passed it on to 427. It ended its days in April 1945 with 16 OTU. CANADIAN FORCES
loss being offset by the re-forming of 104 Squadron and the re-equipping of 101 with Wellingtons. More significant was the formation at Driffield of 405 Squadron – the first of 11 Canadian Wellington units to form over the next 18 months. The unit took on Merlin-engined Mk.IIs which, eventually flown by eight squadrons, were capable of carrying the latest weapon, the 4,000lb (1,814kg) blast bomb nicknamed the ‘Cookie’. Wyton-based 15 Squadron flew its last Wellington ‘op’ on May 8 and became the first to change to ‘heavies’ when its Stirlings arrived. That night Bomber Command dispatched a record of 364 aircraft; seven Wellingtons were lost.
Extraordinary valour
With an impressive bomb log marking it as a veteran, Wellington Ic R1781 served with 101 Sqn at Bourn in early 1942. V REDFERN
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 56
Flying against Hamburg on May 10, a 115 Squadron aircraft skippered by Sgt Anderson was attacked and hit by a Bf 110 flown by Ltn Eckart-Wilhelm von Bronin of 6/NJG 1. His barrage knocked out the navigator, Sgt Legg, who, when he came round, found the rest of his crew had baled out. His
own parachute had fallen through the escape hatch but, undaunted, he disengaged the autopilot and managed to crash-land the blazing bomber to survive as a prisoner of war. An even more remarkable incident occurred during an attack on Münster on July 7 when the engine of a 75 Squadron Wellington was set on fire. The co-pilot, 22-year-old Sgt Jimmy Ward, climbed out onto the wing and managed to extinguish the blaze before retracing his hazardous path back inside. The ‘Wimpey’ returned safely. For his action Ward was awarded the Victoria Cross. When it was announced, he was summonsed to meet Winston Churchill. On seeing the shy young hero the great man said: “You must feel very humble and awkward in my presence.” In reply Ward could only croak, “yes, sir.” With evident compassion and admiration, Churchill replied: “Then you can imagine how humble and awkward I feel in yours.” Ward’s was but a brief glory, for he was lost over Hamburg on September 15.
At this time a new bombing directive was issued requiring concentration on German transport systems, with the Ruhr predominating. Strikes on the northern ports continued, as did those on Berlin. The old adversaries of capital ships were also targeted as several had arrived at Brest following Atlantic forays and saw a brief return to daylight sorties. A hundred bombers, including 79 Wellingtons, attacked the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen in Brest on July 24 but in the face of flak and stiff fighter opposition the raid proved costly: of the dozen machines lost, ten were Wellingtons. Three of those that failed to return were from 405 Squadron. Sgt Ken Craig’s crew in W5881 had a torrid time with four separate attacks from Bf 109s, two of which were shot down by his gunners, Sgts Hughes and Higgins. The latter was wounded and the stricken aircraft limped home to ditch just 300 yards from the Devon coast; all the crew survived. Plt Off Trueman’s crew disappeared without trace while the CO, Wg Cdr Gilchrist, also went down, but he and most of his crew evaded capture. It was not only in frontline units that the Wellington served within Bomber Command. There was a huge training organisation and the Wellington was the backbone for a number of operational training units. Trainee OTU crews were often tasked with a few less risky ‘ops’, such as a leaflet drop over France, before graduating to the front line. During August the first Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) unit began forming at Holme-on-Spalding Moor. Under Wg Cdr N G Mullholland dfc, 458 Squadron began operations on October 20 when ten Wellingtons bombed Rotterdam and Antwerp. Z1218, flown by Sgt Hamilton, was lost with only one survivor. Two nights later, Le Havre was hit and by the month’s end Cherbourg, Brest and Dunkirk were hit. The rest of 1941 was marked by poor weather and only two raids were made in November. On the 24th many of 458’s trained personnel left to form the nucleus of another RAAF squadron, 460, at Breighton. Like most other 1 Group Wellington units, both flew the Twin Wasp-engined Mk.IV, deliveries of which began to the Polish 300, 301 and 305 Squadrons during August. The grind of operations continued into another winter and, despite
04/10/2013 12:39
57
The Mk.X was the most produced of the Wellington variants - Hawarden-built LP700 before being issued to service.
increasing deliveries of more modern ‘heavies’, Wellingtons remained the Command’s backbone. In one of its last raids before transfer to Egypt, 458 sent three aircraft to hit Boulogne and seven to the rail yards at Düsseldorf. After bombing, one of the latter, skippered by Flt Lt Saville, flew over a lit-up airfield on which a Heinkel He 111 was taking off. The irrepressible Australian dived to enable his gunners to strafe the aircraft and it veered off the runway. It had been a hard year, fought against an increasingly effective defence system that had seen nightfighter claims alone jump tenfold to 421. A total of 466 Wellingtons had been lost on operations.
Thousand Plan As 1942 began Bomber Command continued to expand and no fewer than 15 Wellington squadrons formed during the year. These balanced out those that re-equipped with Stirlings, Halifaxes and Lancasters. First to form was the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) 419 at Mildenhall, which began ‘ops’ on January 11 when two aircraft bombed the battlecruisers in Brest. No.419 was the first of ten Canadian Wellington units to form in 1942. The following month it began re-equipping with Hercules-engined Mk IIIs, he variant becoming the mainstay until the greater availability of ‘heavies’ in 1943. The pace of the Command’s transformation increased with the arrival in February of its new C in C, Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris. This
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 57
coincided with a new directive specifying the ‘area bombing’ policy. There was also a change in tactics with a concentration on a single target each night, increased use of incendiaries and the introduction of the ‘bomber stream’. Of Harris’s 469 frontline bomber force, 221 were Wellingtons. A major success for Harris was the raid on Lübeck on March 28 when 146 Wellingtons were among the 234 bombers that destroyed the centre of the old Baltic port. This was followed by a series of four attacks on Rostock in late April, again causing significant damage. Harris wanted a larger demonstration – to unleash a thousand bombers on a single target. With an operational strength of little more than 400,
One of 166 Squadron’s Wellingtons wi th nose artwork at Kirmington in 1943. N ELLIS
Wellington II W5461 of 104 Squadron went down against Berlin on August 12, 1941; Sqn Ldr Budden and his crew became PoWs. R THIRSK
04/10/2013 12:39
58
Wellington
The first RCAF Wellington unit was 405: Mk.II W5537 at Driffield in July 1941. CANADIAN FORCES
Chester-built Mk.Ic R3149 of 301 Squadron. It went on to serve with 12 OTU and went missing on a raid to Bremen on June 26, 1942 – all six crew were killed. PETE WEST © 2013
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 58
Special
mostly Wellingtons, he had to resort to aircraft from the OTUs as well as others from Coastal and Army Cooperation Commands. In this first use of the ‘bomber stream’ the aerial armada – more than 600 of which were Wellingtons, half from OTUs and flown by instructors – raided Cologne on May 30. Despite the ad hoc nature of this force the defences were swamped and considerable damage was done at the cost of 41 aircraft, 29 of them Wellingtons. A dozen of these were from OTUs, with Wellesbourne Mountford-based 22 OTU and 26 OTU from Wing losing four each. To underline the success the force was unleashed on Essen two nights later, but haze and low cloud resulted in scattered bombing. Nonetheless, the validity of the new tactics was established and, following smallerscale raids, the ‘Thousand Force’ was reassembled to strike at Bremen on June 25 – Wellingtons making up almost half the procession that flew across the target in little more than an hour. Once again cloud cover affected the result, but the new policy was vindicated. Throughout the rest of the year Bomber Command grew markedly, with much of the muscle coming from
newly-formed Wellington units, most with Mk.IIIs. On the horizon was the ultimate bomber version, the Hercules VI-engined Mk.X, the first of which entered service with 466 Squadron RAAF at Leconfield in November – followed there by 196 and 431 Squadron RCAF at Burn. No.199 at Blyton began ‘ops’ when five of its Wellingtons took part in a raid on Mannheim. It was the last to become operational in 1942.
Conspicuous gallantry As 1943 dawned the long-awaited sustained assault began in earnest. Despite greater use of four-engined ‘heavies’ there were still 19 Wellington units in the order of battle, though most would be re-equipped during the summer and by the end of the year just one squadron remained. The last Wellington squadron in Bomber Command was 166, which assembled at Kirmington on January 27 from elements of 142 and 150. It was immediately operational and on the 29th sent a dozen aircraft to Lorient. Several crews experienced severe icing and had to return early and three more aborted for other reasons. W/O Gray and his crew in BK115 were shot down near the target and all perished.
It was against the same target on February 13 that 166 launched 14 aircraft as part of a 377-strong force which included 99 Wellingtons. All of 166’s aircraft successfully bombed and headed home. Having safely crossed the English coast at 8,000ft at about 10pm, BK460 flown by F/Sgt George Ashplant was struck from beneath by a Halifax of 158 Squadron. The impact killed one of the crew, tore off the underside of the Wellington’s nose and the engines from their mountings. Ashplant ordered his crew to bale out. Then it was discovered as the bomb aimer’s parachute had fallen out Ashplant gave him his. Through skilful flying he mzanaged to make a crash landing. For his unselfish courage Ashplant was recognised by the first award of a Conspicuous Gallantry Medal to Wellington aircrew. The CGM had been instituted earlier in the year for NCOs and ranked second only to the VC. Sadly this brave man died when his was one of two ‘Wimpeys’ lost in the first of the great firestorm raids on Hamburg, on July 24. By the time the last three RCAF Wellington units in 6 Group re-equipped with Halifaxes during October, just the Poles in 300 Squadron at Ingham were left with them. The unit was restricted to peripheral targets and mining into 1944, during which losses were mercifully light. The final Wellington loss on ‘ops’ was on February 20 when F/Sgt Kabacinski’s crew in Mk.X JA117 failed to return after laying mines off St Nazaire. Although the type continued to be used at OTUs for training, including some leaflet dropping operations, and on intelligence gathering duties with 192 Squadron, the Wellington’s distinguished part in the bomber offensive was over.
04/10/2013 12:40
59
ONE CREW’S TOUR In May 1941 Plt Off John Gee joined 99 Squadron at Waterbeach, straight from training, and flew his first operation against Cologne on the 17th. As was usual, he flew as second pilot with an experienced crew before taking over a crew of his own, flying his first trip as captain to Rotterdam on July 5. Further trips followed, all in the Pegasus-engined Wellington Ic. No.99 had recently received two Merlin-engined Mk.IIs, capable of carrying the 4,000lb ‘Cookie’ bomb. In late July Mk.II W5458 was allocated to John and his crew, much to their delight, as he recalled: “I was fortunate to be given Z-for-Zola as my aeroplane. It was a lovely machine to fly. The extra power from the Merlins made it faster and it was more manoeuvrable than the Mk.Ic, but it was a bit of a handful on take-off. To counter this, the pilot had to lead with the port throttle so that he could then control the swing until there was airflow over the rudder to give directional control. “I loved the Mk.II and W5458 Zola became my favourite. I did my first operation in Zola to Kiel on July 24. We had a good trip and it was great to feel the extra power and response; it almost felt like a fighter by comparison. Visibility over Kiel was good and we dropped the ‘Cookie’ accurately. There were many
searchlights and the flak defences were moderate.” They landed safely after a 7 hour, 15 minute sortie and next flew Zola in a raid on Cologne on July 30, encountering severe storms and accurate flak before bombing. After leave, Gee’s crew next flew ‘their’ Mk.II on August 22 against Mannheim: “Visibility was good and we were able to locate the target accurately. On the bombing run we experienced very concentrated heavy flak. The gunners seemed to have got our height and direction spot-on and they fairly plastered us. We were hit in the tailplane but fortunately the damage was not serious... “As we were leaving the target area we were attacked by a night-fighter. That was the first time this had happened to us. I put the Wellington into a corkscrew by starting a diving turn to port and then came up into a climbing turn to starboard. The fighter opened fire on us and I could see tracer passing our starboard side. Tom Gittins opened up in return from his rear turret and the fighter veered away. We did not see any more of him and so set course for home.” The crew ‘visited’ Karlsruhe and Cologne in Zola and also attacked the German battlecruisers in Brest in clear weather in early September. On the 7th they set out on their first ‘op’ against
Berlin – again in Zola. “Approaching Berlin we found that visibility was unusually clear and we were able to locate the city and we dropped our 4,000lb bomb near the aiming point. There were a number of searchlights but the heavy flak did not seem as concentrated as the Ruhr.” In December John and his crew completed their tour and he became an instructor. Zola later moved to 12 Squadron and was lost in a raid on Mannheim on May 20, 1942.
A 305 Squadron crew use a 4,000lb ‘Cookie’ blast bomb for a team photo before delivering it to a German city in 1943. MIKE INGHAM
Opposite: Sqn Ldr John Gee’s favourite mount, Wellington II W5458 ‘Z-for-Zola’. J W GEE
Backbone_50-59.ke.indd 59
04/10/2013 12:42
60
Wellington
Special
Taking
WELLINGTONS GAINED A REPUTATION FOR BEING ABLE TO TAKE A LOT OF DAMAGE AND STILL BRING THE AIRCREW HOME, AS OUR PORTFOLIO ATTESTS
Punishment Above: Salvaging Mk.II W5358 of 12 Squadron after an accident at its home base, Binbrook, on June 21, 1941. ‘B-forBeer’ was repaired and went on to fly with 104 Squadron from Malta. It last served as ‘T-for-Tommy’ with 158 Squadron at Driffield and while on a raid to Essen on April 13, 1942 was the victim of flak. This time W5358 did not recover, it crashed near Cologne. All five of its crew took to the silk and became prisoners of war. VIA ANDY THOMAS
Above, right: A sorry sight after a Canadian Wellington made a force-landing in North Africa, 1942-1943. The legend on the nose is prophetic: ‘Is Your Journey Necessary’! KEC
60-61 Punishment.ke.indd 60
04/10/2013 15:12
61
Above: During a raid to Duisburg on April 8, 1943 Mk.X HE329 ‘Y-for-Yoke’ of 428 ‘Ghost’ Squadron RCAF suffered terrible damage. Sgt Leonard Williamson flew it back home to Dalton and was awarded the CGM for his incredible efforts. The Wellington was repaired and served with two Operational Training Units, 20 at Lossiemouth and 22 at Wellesbourne Mountford, eventually becoming a ground instructional airframe in March 1946. RCAF VIA ANDY THOMAS
Left: The Wellington’s construction technique allowed it to take considerable battle damage: an allwoman Civilian Repair Organisation team at work for the benefit of the camera. KEC Left One of two parked Wellingtons at Blida, Algeria, in February 1944 that came off worse after being ploughed into by a Canadian Halifax in difficulties. KEC Far left, bottom and left, middle: Two views believed taken in North Africa, of a Wellington having been put back on its main undercarriage after a belly landing. Note the damage to the lower fuselage and the bent prop blades. The starboard wing appears to have suffered from fire damage and the fin and rudder ended up on the centre section. KEC
Bottom: A Mk.VIII of 36 Squadron after a crashlanding at its home base, Blida, Algeria, on July 7, 1943. In the UK, such damage would very likely have be repaired at a specialist unit, but in North Africa it led to it being struck off charge 25 days later for use as spares. KEC
60-61 Punishment.ke.indd 61
04/10/2013 15:20
62
Wellington
Special
s a H n o o M e h T s n e v a e H e h t n i Risen High
A REMARKABLE FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF A RAID ON KIEL BY WELLINGTONS OF 149 SQUADRON HAS RECENTLY SURFACED FROM THE ARCHIVES OF PETER GREEN
”THE ’FRESHMEN’ WERE TO BE DETAILED TO VISIT HAVRE, TO GAIN EXPERIENCE... THE OLDER AND MORE EXPERIENCED CREWS WERE BOUND FOR KIEL.”
“A
ircraft of Bomber Command bombed Northern Germany on Wednesday night. Although the docks at Kiel were the main objective, other aircraft of Bomber Command visited the Baltic Port of Rostock. Two of our aircraft are missing from these operations. So read the statement issued yesterday by the Air Ministry.” These words provided the introduction to an account of the raid by written by Gp Capt I M Rodney, who was allowed along to write up his impressions. It makes for fascinating reading: In the darkness it was only just visible – a Wellington bomber – dispersed at a point close to the aerodrome boundary fence, awaiting the crew. Rain was spattering on engine covers, and over the pilot’s cockpit the green canvas was dripping a dreary avalanche of water
Kiel_62-69.ke.indd 62
on to the tarmac. A sentry is pacing in front of the aeroplane, whilst in the distance a dimness of aerodrome ‘Glim’ lamps outline the track on which wheels were eventually to touch down. A motorcar, or rather the crew transport tender, bumps over the uneven grass from the neighbourhood of the aerodrome buildings, and vainly searches its way in the inky blackness towards the giant bomber, now glistening in the dulled headlamps. The tender stops. “Keep your microphone plug dry or we shall have the ‘inter-com’ howling,” said the wireless operator, as we tumbled out. Hurriedly I clutched the offending end of my helmet cords and stuffed the plug as one might a handkerchief, up the sleeve of my flying suit. Grasping my parachute in one hand,
A skipper giving the traditional ‘thumbs-up’ to the ground crew prior to starting engines.
and hoping the microphone plug would behave dryly, I clambered up the ladder set against the trap door in the nose of the Wellington. I then groped my way with the aid of a torch (for the interior lighting had not yet been switched on), past the wireless operator’s compartment, squeezing through the navigator’s office, until I found what I thought was another exit. This proved to be the astro-hatch, a point of vantage from which the navigator ‘cons’ the stars, and from which I was eventually to see some strange sights. Apparently I had been accorded a place of honour, in fact a seat on top of a large pile of leaflets stowed in the bay between the navigator and the parachute flares. We had bombs on of course, but they were hidden underneath, with bomb doors closed and ready to open, spelling death and destruction at the closing of
04/10/2013 14:31
63
”...BOMB DOORS CLOSED AND READY TO OPEN, SPELLING DEATH AND DESTRUCTION AT THE CLOSING OF AN ELECTRIC SWITCH.”
Authors’ Note Gp Capt I M Rodney added the following at the foot of his report: On this trip we actually dropped our bombs at 9,000ft and on the second run at 8,000ft we took the photograph. Our bomb load was: 3 x 500lb high explosive, 1 x 250lb HE, 3 canisters of 4lb incendiaries, 5 x 50lb incendiaries (new type). All the above were released on the Kiel docks at 23:55 hours.
an electric switch. “You will find an oxygen point here,” said the second pilot helpfully: “just plug in your oxygen tube and turn this tap to the height you want. The height setting is shown on this dial, and if you move about don’t forget to turn it off – and here’s the ‘inter-com’ socket.” I hoped my microphone was not going to cause a howl after all.
Meet the lads Now you must know what the crew of a large bomber consists of, and I must introduce you to the lads who formed the crew on this memorable occasion. Firstly there is the pilot, Flt Lt Foreman, and an experienced one at that, with 29 bombing trips over Germany to his credit. Then the second pilot, Fg Off Hodge, fast becoming experienced, and always bright and smiling. The tall lanky Scot is Pilot Officer Malley the navigator; methodical, keen and exact with just those attributes so necessary for precision bombing. Next comes the wireless operator, Sgt Posnett, also a Scot, quiet yet thorough, and it is with him that I am to spend much of the time during our forthcoming trip over Germany. Last but by no means least are the front and rear gunners, Sgts Smith and Townsend. They are already settling down in their cool and not very comfortable turrets, constantly alert and ready to engage night-fighters.
Talk of many things Briefing had taken place at 5pm or 17:00 hours whichever you prefer, and the time is now 20:25. In ten minutes or less we will be leaving those ‘Glim’ lamps far behind. This briefing had been done in a large lecture room at the station headquarters, in which all pilots and crews were assembled. The ‘freshmen’ were to be detailed to visit Havre, to gain experience,
Kiel_62-69.ke.indd 63
Wellington Ic ‘F-for-Freddie’ at its Mildenhall dispersal.
searching for shipping and likely targets. The older and more experienced crews were bound for Kiel. The Squadron Commander had talked of many things. We were to make sure of the target area – reports had been prevalent recently that some crews, not of course ours, had bombed widely. We must be careful and try to drop our assorted cargoes of bombs as effectively as possible. We must bring the lot back if we couldn’t find a suitable target. And there was a new incendiary to be dropped tonight – rather a lively chap and liable to go off without warning if one’s aircraft was hit. Better ‘jettison’ in this case and quickly. “Make sure of your targets, and
‘stooge’ around a bit avoiding flak – don’t rush things, but make sure of your run-up.” There was a lot more, and all of it good sound horse sense, and well spoken by a man, for the time being, limping on two sticks. The Intelligence Officer had followed – switching on as he spoke, screen pictures of the Kiel docks with their inner and outer basins, wharfs and dockside buildings, where much damage could still be achieved. He pointed out the main residential areas, and spoke of probable decoy fires designed to lead us astray, warning us to be careful, and indicating where these might be encountered. And flak – yes – we were to expect much of this, especially to the west of the target.
04/10/2013 14:31
64
Wellington
Special
Left and right: Gp Capt I M Rodney used a worn-out typewriter to put his report of the Kiel raid down onto ruled exercise book paper. The faded document has survived to be read seven decades later.
”NO DESCRIPTION SUCH AS THIS IN FLEETING MEMORY DOES SUFFICIENT JUSTICE, NOR CAN PORTRAY SUCH MOVING BRILLIANCE.” Kiel_62-69.ke.indd 64
04/10/2013 14:31
65
Intelligence Officer’s checklist Did you reach the target? Was it obscured by cloud? Did you see much flak? Were you hit by anti-aircraft fire? Were you attacked by night-fighters? Did the wireless fail? Did you see your bombs burst? Were your fires visible? Did you take a photograph? What about searchlights?
Yes No Yes, fair amount No No Certainly not! Yes Yes, lots Yes Oh, usual amount
”...FRONT AND REAR GUNNERS SWING THEIR TURRETS, KEEPING CLOSE WATCH FOR POSSIBLE ATTACKS BY ENEMY NIGHT FIGHTERS.”
Chester-built Mk.Ic R3149 of 301 Squadron. It went on to serve with 12 OTU and went missing on a raid to Bremen on June 26, 1942 – all six crew were killed. PETE WEST © 2013
Kiel_62-69.ke.indd 65
Then as for the weather over the target area – well – the ‘Met’ Officer would now tell us all about that. “A cold front is approaching this country from the east, and a shallow depression is moving away southwards over France. There will be much cloud at first, with a tendency to clear from ten-tenths to four-tenths. There is a probability that the target area will be obscured by this four-tenths cloud. “There is a bit of rain between here and the coast, and you must expect ‘icing’ between 5,000 and 7,000ft in cloud areas all the way to and from Kiel. There will be a small amount of moonlight, but not enough to be helpful until past midnight...” There was a lot more in the usual meteorological jargon, but the main guide is enough. The Group Captain commanding the bomber station then wished old hands and freshmen good luck. We could if we liked cross the 4th and not
the 5th meridian on our way out, and he would speak to Group about it. “Don’t forget that icing at 7,000ft. You had better climb immediately after take-off to not less than 12,000ft to avoid this ice. And you have a visitor, going with Foreman’s crew.” (I bowed, muttering thanks – and whatever happened I hoped I would not get too much in the way.) “So you had better be off now and get ready for the first aircraft to leave the ground at 20:30. Good luck!”
Track made good As we topped the clouds before crossing the English coast, the moon, now low on the horizon, dappled the white-grey blanket below. From the astro-hatch, the clouds seem to stretch like an ocean for countless miles around. Steadily we climb, past 7,000ft, up and up, until a catch in the breath makes one feel the need for oxygen. Taps are now turned on, and I grope
my way to the wireless operator’s cabin where I settle down to work with Sgt Posnett on the mysteries of tuning the receivers and to keep our navigator supplied with bearings from the wireless loop. Our track made good, we await the crossing of the 4th meridian, before altering course by an amount that will bring the Wellington 30 to 40 miles to the north of Heligoland. Shortly before 22:30 Foreman asks me to come forward to take position as second pilot, and to watch the starboard side of the aircraft. This I do immediately, for anti-aircraft bursts are visible some 30 miles off on our right front, and above the cloud blanket which has now become seventenths. We are close to Heligoland. The front and rear gunners swing their turrets, keeping close watch for possible attacks by enemy nightfighters. Grimly we keep course, watching the vivid flashes now
04/10/2013 14:31
66
Wellington
Special
”AND FLAK, YES, WE WERE TO EXPECT MUCH OF THIS, ESPECIALLY TO THE WEST OF THE TARGET.” almost continuous, some high above and some at cloud-top level. Still on and on... The flashes of bursting shells recede in the distance. As we approach the German coastline the clouds begin to open out to the predicted four-tenths. Already great shafts of light can be seen sweeping the skies. On and on. Now a broad white blue-edged knife sweeps past... others stationary, become silhouetted in the night sky, their beams paling and narrowing until they are lost in infinity. Will these knives cut our Wellington? Will they catch and hold us in their stride? Yes, we are caught! The wing and starboard engine become enveloped in a white and brilliant glare. Will it hold? Will others sweep and catch on as well? No! It pauses in its stride... and then sweeps on.
Eye to bomb sight Bursts of anti-aircraft shells are now seen ahead and slightly to starboard.
Kiel_62-69.ke.indd 66
Servicing complete, groundcrew carry out engine runs to confirm serviceability.
We are now approaching to the north of the target, and already we can see one large red fire, but strange… this position is not quite where we suppose the docks to lie. Moreover the whole of Kiel is clear of cloud. Then three smaller fires appear, less red but right in the target area, as we manoeuvre around to the south. The navigator touches me on the shoulder and I move to one side allowing him as bomb aimer to take up his position – prone stretched and tense with eye to bomb sight. The target is beautifully clear in the moonlight, and now we can see the docks visible in the light of the three reddish glows. The pilot throttles down... Malley adjusts his sight, the target approaches... “Right, 10.” (I hear in my earphones.) The Wellington does a quick turn of 10 degrees. “Left, 5.” Another bank and the target comes into view against the bomb aimer’s window.
“Steady…” The bomb doors open, the aircraft shudders. “Bombs gone.” Down go high explosives and incendiaries in a mixed and devastating stick.
Going round again Have we hit? Anyway, another run will show and then we ought to see our fires. The aircraft camera will record these. We fly on north, before encircling to make our second run again from the south, keeping clear of flak, which by this time is producing an effect colourful and fascinating to the eye. A great cone of searchlight shafts mounting from many pinholes of brightness at ground level, seem to form a pivoting background to the whole effect. The shafts appear to intersect at a point level with our aircraft, and about half a mile to starboard. Anti-aircraft shells burst continuously above the cone, whilst shooting streaks of coloured tracer in reds and greens and larger Roman candle globes of
04/10/2013 14:31
67
brilliant white, climb upwards. For all the world a reminiscence of a Crystal Palace Thursday night display. No artist yet has caught the scene in its magnificence. No description such as this in fleeting memory does sufficient justice, nor can portray such moving brilliance. The naked eye alone records a grand effect whilst the scene recedes. The red-white fires have spread by the time, some 20 minutes later, when we returned from the north in order to make the second run over the target, this time to take a photograph. We can already see a mass of red and white fires, which seem to cover an elongated area, about three-quarters of a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. This line of fire lies across the dockside area. The same tactics for our run-up to the target are performed. The same directions are given by the bomb aimer to the pilot, but this time no bombs are released, for all have gone down to add to the destruction already caused by our predecessors. Every minute it seems that the fires are getting bigger and angrier. At last they come into view in the bomb aimer’s window and he takes a vertical sight, presses the camera switch. On we climb, setting our course for England once more.
Return leg But we are by no means out of the wood, for suddenly the rear gunner shouts warning. Foreman does a steep bank to the right, then another one to the left. Is it an enemy night-fighter? Just then a friendly cloud bank shields us from the ground below and we are only at 8,000ft, ready to dive into it. Apparently all is well, and as the
flak recedes into the distance, the clouds hide us from the wandering searchlights. The second pilot, Hodge, has now gone aft and I following, glimpse him undoing the bundles of leaflets. I too must help here, if not with bombs then paper in festoons would I scatter, at the same time wishing I had every office file to add to the snowstorm shortly to descend upon the German countryside! Hastening, I scramble along and seize one bundle and then two, ripping off the elastic bands and stuffing the fluttering papers down the flare chute. One copy I hold and tuck it in the pocket of my flying suit. At last all are gone and a northerly wind is now drifting them in a fluttering mass well over Schleswig Holstein. I think of the story of the pilot who, being late back at his aerodrome, claimed to have landed and placed some of his leaflets under the doors of the German houses! A steady course, repeatedly checked by wireless bearings brings us, with Heligoland to port, to the 4th meridian, and Foreman says: “Now we will switch in ‘George’.” For the benefit of the uninitiated, ‘George’ is the automatic pilot. The Wellington does a sudden buck as ‘George’ takes up control and now we all settle down to our thoughts and some refreshments. But still we keep an ever watchful eye for enemy aircraft, because these sometimes have a nasty habit of following our bombers home at a distance. Besides, the moon has risen high in the heavens and it is almost as bright as day. Not a smoke since eight yesterday, and it’s now 1.30am. No beer, but
149 Squadron’s raid on Kiel, September 11, 1941 Having been stood down from operations on the previous two nights, on September 11 Mildenhall-based 149 Squadron was detailed to allocate eight Wellingtons to support an attack on the north German port of Kiel. In the event the aircraft flown by Sgt Woolnough’s crew was cancelled. In a little over 20 minutes, from 8.32pm, seven aircraft took off and set course independently across the North Sea. First away was R1802 F-for-Freddie flown by Flt Lt Dougie Forman who had aboard Gp Capt Rodney, the author of the accompanying account. The rest of the crew were: Plt Off Hodge ...............................................................Co-pilot Plt Off Malley .............................................................Observer Sgt Posnett...................................................Wireless operator Sgt Smith ................................................................Air gunner Sgt Townsend..........................................................Air gunner Six of the Wellingtons bombed, Foreman reporting: “One stick 330-degrees across Kiel target area. Four bursts seen and incendiaries started fires. Three good fires seen burning 11/2 miles south of target.” They landed shortly after 3.30am on the 12th after a seven-hour sortie. Sgt Gee in X9758 N-for-Nuts had to jettison his load into the sea. All six of the crew of X9879 V-for-Vic, flown by Canadian Sgt Bennett, were reported missing and all were killed. The other participating aircraft and crews that returned safely were: X9878 ...............................‘OJ-A’ .....................Plt Off Gregory R1514 ............................... ‘OJ-H’ ...................Sgt Birmingham Z8838 ...............................‘OJ-T’ .............................Sgt Stone X9980 ..............................‘OJ-W’ .........................Sgt Kimpton
F-for-Freddie’s pilot, Dougie Foreman, was awarded a DFC at the end of his tour but was killed in a flying accident when instructing on March 25, 1943. His rear gunner, Eric Townsend, was later commissioned, becoming a flight lieutenant and completing a total of 66 operations, including 25 as a Pathfinder with 156 Squadron. He was awarded the DFC in February 1943.
On its way, ‘F-for-Freddie’ scudding through the cloud tops.
Kiel_62-69.ke.indd 67
04/10/2013 14:32
68
Wellington
Special
”I THINK OF THE STORY OF THE PILOT WHO, BEING LATE BACK AT HIS AERODROME, CLAIMED TO HAVE LANDED AND PLACED SOME OF HIS LEAFLETS UNDER THE DOORS OF THE GERMAN HOUSES!”
”DOWN GO HIGH EXPLOSIVES AND INCENDIARIES IN A MIXED AND DEVASTATING STICK.” Above: Briefing complete, the crew poses for a last-minute photo.
Kiel_62-69.ke.indd 68
perhaps a noggin when we land. The wireless operator sucks green and red ‘ju-jubes’, chocolate for Foreman and myself. Hodge is now seated at the controls until we cross the English coast. How interminable it seems, but at last we throttle down and glide to 2,000ft through a gap in the clouds, through which the moon shines eerily. The English coast line comes into view and over blacked-out countryside we fly, picked out here and there with patches that one recognises as fields or small lakes and in the moonlight. Beacons as guides and the rain holding off, we catch sight of our
friendly aerodrome ‘Glim’ lamps once more in the early morning hours. It is more than eight hours since the limping Wing Commander had asked me in the crew room to disgorge such things as official passes, driving licence or any written matter that might be useful to the enemy had we been brought down and taken prisoner. The aerodrome approaches – the control officer on the flare path prepares the track for our landing – our landing lamps flash on – our speed slackens. The wheels touch down. The crew tender is waiting as Foreman taxies the Wellington back to its dispersal point. We tumble into
the tender and it bumps its grassy way, this time to the ‘Ops’ Room, where ‘interrogation’ of eturning crews takes place before we finish for the night. All crews are assembling now and we await our turn in an adjacent room where tea is served. I spy the station padre ever ready with a welcome hand and word. Shortly it is our turn for questioning, and Foreman, smiling Hodge, young Malley, followed up by ‘Sparks’ Posnett and gunners Smith and Townsend, sit round a table. The Intelligence Officer with eager pencil records our version of the raid. And so to breakfast – bed and then, oblivion.
04/10/2013 14:32
69
Bomb load arriving
at ‘J-for-Jig’.
Winching the bombs by hand into the weapons bay of ‘H-for-How’, ready for Sgt Birmingham’s crew. ALL PETER GREEN COLLECTION UNLESS NOTED
Kiel_62-69.ke.indd 69
04/10/2013 14:32
70
Wellington
Special
DOWN IN THE
DRINK N
ot all Wellington sorties ended with a successful landing back at base. Many were lost over enemy-occupied territory; others came down in the sea. For those who took to the water, there was always the possibility of rescue and the chance to fight another day. The heroism of those that survived is a graphic example of human courage and fortitude when faced with great
Drink_70-75.ke.indd 70
The desperate scene that awaited rescuers: Whiteley and Ford draped in the singleman dinghy with Bullen clinging to the side where he had remained throughout the horrific 15-hour ordeal.
AIR CDRE GRAHAM PITCHFORK RELATES THE INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCES OF THREE WELLINGTON CREWS WHO FOUND THEMSELVES AT THE MERCY OF THE CRUEL SEA
danger. The skill, determination and courage of those who risked their lives to save others also shines out
Leaflets to Paris As trainee bomber crews approached the end of their course at an Operational Training Unit (OTU), the majority were tasked to fly a short ‘op’ over enemy-occupied territory, usually northern France, to drop propaganda leaflets. Known as nickel flights, these
gave an opportunity to experience the build-up and preparation for a raid and then to fly over enemy territory where they might meet opposition. These sorties also served a useful secondary purpose of boosting the morale of those living in the occupied countries. On the night of July 13, 1943, Wg Cdr Norman Bray, a peacetime regular officer who had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1938 for operations on the North West Frontier
04/10/2013 14:27
71
of India, took off in Mk.III BJ702 F-for-Freddie from Chipping Warden with his student crew from 12 OTU to drop leaflets over the Paris area. Shortly after crossing the French coast, the bomber was hit by flak, which damaged the port engine. Bray turned back but the Wellington steadily lost height. As it crossed the coast it received a hot reception from German gunners, Flt Sgt Bernard Fitchett, the wireless operator, sent an SOS and selected the identification, friend or foe, transmitter to ‘emergency’. The wing had also been damaged and Bray had difficulty controlling Freddie. He realised that he would not be able to complete the crossing of the English Channel and ordered the crew to take up their ditching positions. Making a tail-down landing on the sea, the aircraft pitched forward and decelerated quickly, causing Bray to smash his face on the windscreen, but this did not prevent him from making a quick escape. Standing on the wing, he saw three of the crew in the dinghy, which had released and inflated automatically. Sgt Les Perkins, the front gunner, was trapped in the fuselage by his foot and Bray helped him to escape. All safe in the dinghy, BJ702 sank 15 minutes later. Bray’s nose was broken and bleeding badly but he managed to stem the flow. All suffered from seasickness and cold but once daylight came, they were able to organise themselves and devise a plan for the rationing of water. At 9.10am they sighted the French coast and the navigator, Fg Off G Parkinson, fi xed their position near Le Havre.
Drink_70-75.ke.indd 71
Textbook co-ordination During the morning, a lone Spitfire sighted the dinghy, circled twice and waggled its wings before flying off. Throughout the day the crew took shifts to paddle away from the French coast before spending a fitful night. Early next morning a flight of Typhoons spotted the flares fired by the survivors and radioed a message back to their unit. Within an hour, a Hudson of 279 Squadron had taken off from Bircham Newton carrying a lifeboat. As it flew over Tangmere, it picked up an escort
Diagram of dinghy installation on a Wellington.
Aircrew going through dinghy drill on the wing of a Wellington.
of 12 Typhoons of 486 (RNZAF) Squadron before heading for the dinghy. At 10.45am 28 Air Sea Rescue Unit (ASRU) at Newhaven received a crash call and High Speed Launches (HSLs) 177 and 190 left for a position off Brighton to await instructions. The Hudson arrived in the search area and within 20 minutes, the pilot, Australian Fg Off Lloyd Wilson, spotted the dinghy. The survivors fired a flare so that Wilson could assess the wind. After a dummy run, he dropped the lifeboat, which deployed perfectly under its three parachutes and landed close by. The crew scrambled aboard and soon had the engine going and, escorted by four Typhoons, they headed for the English coast 80 miles (128km) away. Within minutes, a large formation of Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters appeared and was immediately engaged by the New Zealanders who shot down at least one and damaged others. Four Spitfire squadrons were scrambled to relieve the Typhoons and take over the escort duties. At 4.15pm, the two HSLs were ordered to intercept the lifeboat. In the meantime, Bray and his crew had headed steadily away from France. After four hours they were 30 miles from the English coast when the two RAF launches arrived. The HSLs had seen some of the Spitfires circling the dinghy, and Flt Lt Alan MacDonald and his crew on HSL 177 reached the survivors shortly afterwards. The
04/10/2013 14:28
72
Wellington
Special
six flyers were soon fitted out with dry clothing, and the launches headed for Newhaven with the Spitfires overhead. HSL 190 took the lifeboat in tow. Bray and his crew were met by the naval medical authorities and admitted to sick quarters at Swanborough. There Bray received treatment for a badly broken nose and the others for cuts and bruises. Within a few days they returned to their unit. Bray was loud in his praise for the conduct of his young and inexperienced crew. He also commented that all their lives had been saved because they adhered strictly to the training they had received at Chipping Warden. He concluded his report by saying: “the whole show from beginning to end was a triumph of training and crew cooperation.”
Drink_70-75.ke.indd 72
Wg Cdr N Bray (centre, front row) and fellow students at Chipping Warden. Parkinson, Wilde, Stokes and Fitchett were in his crew.
Roderick Gray GC.
Mediterranean ditching As the campaign in Tunisia was drawing to a close in the spring of 1943, a great deal of Axis shipping was transiting between North Africa and the ports in Sicily and on the west coast of Italy. Out searching for them were the anti-shipping Wellingtons of 221 Squadron based at Luqa on Malta. Many narratives and reports of ditchings start with the phrase: “it was just another routine operation”. These were the words used by Canadian Flt Sgt Terry Moore in his report. Moore was the navigator of torpedodropping Mk.VIII G-for-George captained by Flt Sgt James Hemsworth. They had been on patrol north of Sicily on the night of April 14, 1943 and were
04/10/2013 14:28
73
He was dragged through the emergency hatch and into the dinghy just as the aircraft sank. He had sustained a deep gash in his leg and the rest of the crew broke open the first aid kit and soon had his leg bandaged. The second pilot and one of the three wireless operators were lost. It was soon dawn and the four survivors were wet and suffering from seasickness. By noon it was almost unbearably hot, and the airmen could get little relief except by constantly soaking their heads in sea water, taking care not to swallow any. They examined their survival aids and discovered that they had 12 tins of water and six packs of emergency rations. In addition, they found two paddles, a sea anchor, a flag, handheld signal flares, a signal pistol with cartridges and two packs of fluorescent dye.
A Hudson dropping a lifeboat.
Paddling back
heading back to Malta at 2,000ft. Working at his plotting table, Moore was startled by an exclamation that a propeller had broken free followed by Hemsworth calling the crew to jettison all loose articles. As soon as Moore and the wireless operator had started to throw equipment down the flare chute, Hemsworth shouted that he was ditching. A brief SOS was sent before George hit the water in a slight turn, ripping off one of the wings. The impact was less severe than expected and Moore quickly activated the dinghy release, left via the astrodome, then climbed on to the wing and into the dinghy. Three of the crew were soon aboard and were taking stock of the situation when they saw the captain still in the cockpit.
Drink_70-75.ke.indd 73
Back on Malta, the Wellington’s SOS was picked up by Headquarters 248 Wing giving a position 60 miles due west of the island. Within an hour, the ‘ops’ room at Luqa had sent a Swordfish to search the likely area, and a HSL was brought to immediate readiness. A Beaufort of 39 Squadron was prepared and left at 10.30am to relieve the Swordfish. This was in turn replaced by two Baltimores of 69 Squadron, which carried out a creeping line ahead search until relieved by a Beaufort at 6.30pm. Over the next two days, a steady stream of aircraft searched without success. During the first afternoon, the downed airmen saw two aircraft (almost certainly the Baltimores) pass close to them but their crews failed to see the flares and the sea markers. An aircraft (the Beaufort) appeared just before dark, but flew on. Most of the crew slept fitfully, but at one point all must have been asleep. One woke to find the dinghy filling with water and the side chambers deflating. They all hastily started to bale and normality was soon restored. It was a good lesson and at least one of them remained on watch as the others dozed. The next day they had an encounter with a large turtle that circled before diving away. A mine was the next object to occupy their attention and, as it appeared to be bearing down on them, they paddled away and evaded it before settling down to await events. By the third day, the crew decided
Canadian Terence Moore, navigator on Wellington VIII LB134.
that their only hope of getting back to land was by their own efforts. They had two choices, paddle to Malta or make for the North African coast. They opted for the latter as it was nearer and the currents appeared to be carrying them in that direction. They also decided to cut down their water ration by half to a quarter pint each and to limit the malt tablets to six a day for each man. A sail of sorts was improvised from the signalling flag and they got under way with the paddles. With the aid of their small ‘escape’ compass, they attempted to maintain a westerly heading. Their progress was discouragingly slow and when they dropped a piece of paper and timed its disappearance, they calculated that it would take two weeks to reach the coast.
04/10/2013 14:28
74
Wellington
Special
Eaves-dropping Red Cross Spirits rose at dusk when they heard an aircraft and this turned to elation when it turned towards them after spotting their flares fired from the pistol. As they speculated on its identity, they suddenly realised that it was not the anticipated Wellington but a Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88. They stopped waving their flag and felt very conspicuous. They concluded that either the Junkers would dispose of them or send a message for a German motor torpedo boat from Pantelleria to come and take them off to captivity. The aircraft passed over the dinghy twice, and then with a flash of its navigation lights, flew off. The morning of the 18th dawned with the expectation that they would be picked up shortly and ‘put in the bag’, so they destroyed documentation and prepared for captivity. Unknown to the four men, 248 Wing was informed at 6.47am that an ‘international broadcast’ had been intercepted giving the position of the airmen. Luqa operations immediately launched a Baltimore to head for the position and at 9.40 a dinghy with four men was sighted. An HSL left for the area with a fighter escort. Later during the morning of their fifth day, a Royal Navy Walrus appeared with an escort of eight Spitfires. Fluorescent dye was released into the water and the amphibian alighted shortly after and picked up the four men. Their last view of the dinghy was a sad one as the Spitfires dived on it and sank it with gunfire.
Drink_70-75.ke.indd 74
‘Whaleback’ high-speed launch HSL 17, which picked up Bray and his crew.
The crew spent a few days in hospital before a spell of ‘survivor’s leave’ in Egypt. A few weeks later, Moore met an army corporal who worked in the signals section of the Malta Headquarters. On one of his watches a signal arrived with the news that a dinghy had been sighted. Apparently the International Red Cross had established a wireless net in the Vatican for humanitarian purposes and had intercepted a message on the international distress frequency giving the position of a dinghy containing four men. It could only have come from the Luftwaffe bomber. It was the crew’s only encounter with the enemy.
Supreme Gallantry Wellington VIII of 221 Squadron patrolling off Malta.
At 5.30pm on August 27, 1944, Fg Off George Whiteley and his crew took off from Limavady, Northern Ireland, in their 172 Squadron Wellington XIV
NB798 for a patrol in the Bay of Biscay. Just after midnight, a very weak distress call from the aircraft, with its position, was intercepted. Nothing more was heard and NB798 failed to return. Other Coastal Command aircraft were alerted and a search for the missing men commenced. Whiteley and his crew had located U-boat U-534 on the surface off the mouth of the Gironde at Bordeaux. Switching on the powerful Leigh Light, the Wellington started its attack and met a withering burst of anti-aircraft fire which set the port engine on fire. Despite the damage, Whitely pressed on and released his depth charges astern of the submarine. The aircraft had been crippled and it crashed into the sea, sinking almost immediately. Canadian W/O Gordon Bullen, one of the wireless operators, found himself under water but he managed to escape the aircraft and reach the surface. Flashing his torch and shouting, he spotted Whiteley and one of the air gunners, non-swimmer Sergeant John Ford, both badly injured. The navigator, Canadian Fg Off Rod Gray had joined Bullen with a single-man ‘K’ dinghy, which he was struggling to inflate. He was also badly injured but assisted Ford aboard and insisted that Whiteley get into the hopelessly inadequate vessel, while he and Bullen tied themselves together and clung to the side. Throughout the rest of the night, and into the early morning, Gray maintained the morale of the others although suffering from very severe leg wounds. He suspected that the lower part of his leg had been severed, but kept quiet about the extent of his injuries. He refused to exchange places with either of the men in the dinghy.
04/10/2013 14:28
75
Wellingtons of 221 Squadron.
During the morning after many hours in the water clinging to the dinghy, he succumbed to his injuries and his comrades reluctantly cut his body free. In the meantime, a search had started for the missing Wellington and at 2.19pm on the 27th, a 10 Squadron RAAF Sunderland, captained by Australian Flt Lt Bill Tilley dfc found the little dinghy with three men. Shortly afterwards, he was joined by another Australian Sunderland with Gp Capt R Mead dfc afc, the station commander of St Eval, on board. Mead had spent eleven days in a dinghy in the Bay of Biscay just a few months earlier. The two Sunderlands and a 172 Squadron Wellington, which had also appeared on the scene, orbited the survivors. After circling for almost an hour, Tilley decided that the plight of
the airmen was very acute and he could not wait for a surface craft to arrive. He jettisoned his depth charges and alighted on the calm sea. A desperate scene met him and his Australian crew, with the injured men draped over each other in the tiny dinghy and Bullen still clinging to the side, as he had throughout the 15-hour ordeal. The men were gently assisted into the flying-boat and Tilley took off. In view of their condition, Tilley abandoned his patrol and immediately headed for Mountbatten near
Drink_70-75.ke.indd 75
A Royal Navy Walrus picked up Moore and his surviving crew. ALL VIA AUTHOR
Plymouth where the three could receive hospital treatment. When the full story of the ordeal came to light, George Whiteley was awarded the DSO, the DFC went to Gordon Bullen and John Ford received the DFM. To the valiant Canadian from Marie, Ontario, Roderick Borden Gray went the posthumous George Cross, the supreme gallantry award for courage not in the face of the enemy. Despite his own appalling injuries, Gray had shown unselfi sh devotion to the welfare of his colleagues.
04/10/2013 14:28
76
Wellington
Special
‘R-for-Robert’ Above: ‘R-for-Robert’ at the end of its restoration. CLIFF KNOX BROOKLANDS MUSEUM
AMERICANS HOPING TO DISCOVER THE ‘LOCH NESS MONSTER’ FOUND SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. KEN ELLIS DESCRIBES AN ASTOUNDING SALVAGE
N
A submersible eye’s view from the depths of Loch Ness showing the code letter on the side of N2980. VIA ROBIN HOLMES
76-78_Robert_Wellington.ke.indd 76
ew Year’s Eve 1940 was just another workday – the war did not pause for festivities. Wellington Ia N2980 R-for-Robert of 20 Operational Training Unit (OTU) climbed out of its base at Lossiemouth on Scotland’s Moray Firth in mid-afternoon. After the navigation exercise was completed the eight crew would have plenty of time to get ready for whatever revelry they intended. At the helm was Sqn Ldr David
Marwood-Elton, alongside him was co-pilot Plt Off J F Slatter, both 20 OTU ‘regulars’. The other six on board, all sergeants, were anxiously coming to grips with their respective ‘trades’: wireless operator/air gunner (WOP/ AG) W Wright, navigators C Chandler, E Ford, R E Little and Lucton, and rear gunner J S Fensome. The Bomber Command novices had every reason to be nervous; it was a pig of day and getting worse. Marwood-Elton was heading southwest towards Fort Augustus, at the southern end of Loch Ness. He’d climbed to 8,000ft (2,438m), a safe enough height for the mountains that lay all around them. They were flying through dense ‘clag’ and the snow squalls were getting more and
03/10/2013 15:01
77
more threatening. It was then that the starboard Pegasus XVIII engine packed in. This was no time for prevaricating; Marwood-Elton immediately adopted the drills he’d learned. They were losing height, out of sight of the surface and surrounded by mountainous terrain – bale out, and do it now. Getting six men out took a while and the pilots had no choice but had to stay at the controls while this took place. Suddenly, Marwood-Elton spotted a gap in the cloud and saw a stretch of intense blackness – water. Dropping R-for-Robert’s nose, he aimed for it, figuring a forced-landing in Loch Ness was much more preferable than a parachute descent into the gloom. He made a textbook touchdown. He and Slatter got out onto the wing, extracted the dinghy and paddled ashore. R-forRobert sank into the depths.
Fortunes of war Chandler, Ford, Little, Lucton and Wright all baled out successfully. Rear gunner Fensome seems to have pulled his ripcord too soon and damaged his parachute on the tailplane; he fell to his death. Shocked, cold and battered, the OTU students who had survived the demise of R-for-Robert went on to operations. Their fortunes serve graphically to underline the huge sacrifice of the men of Bomber Command. By the end of the war, three of the quintet had been killed in action. (There is no record of Lucton; he may also have succumbed. Only WOP/AG Wright is confirmed as surviving.) Chandler died on August 2, 1941; Ford on May 31, 1942. Flt Sgt Little was the navigator on board Short Stirling N3754 of the Oakingtonbased 7 Squadron. Stirling O-forOrange was part of the last ‘Thousand Plan’ raid, June 25-26, 1942, and bound for Bremen. The big bomber was shot down by a Luftwaffe nightfighter; four of the crew, including Little, perished; three became prisoners of war (PoWs). By 1944, R-for-Robert’s co-pilot, J F Slatter, was a Flight Lieutenant, captaining a de Havilland Mosquito IV of 105 Squadron at Marham. He and Plt Off P Hedges took off in DZ548 J-for-Jig on February 5, 1944 and collided with a Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress of the 96th Bomb Group out of Snetterton Heath. The Mosquito crew were killed, the Fortress made it back home. Forty-seven days after Slatter
76-78_Robert_Wellington.ke.indd 77
died, R-for-Robert’s captain, David Marwood-Elton, took the silk, baling out of a stricken Handley Page Halifax. By then he was Gp Capt MarwoodElton DFC, Officer Commanding RAF Burn, Yorkshire, the home of 578 Squadron. On March 22 he joined the crew of 578’s LW540 – ironically
another R-for-Robert – on an ‘op’ to Frankfurt. The bomber was shot down by a Junkers Ju 88 and all eight of LW540’s crew became PoWs. Aged 84, David died in 1995, but a decade before he had been on the shores of Loch Ness to re-acquaint himself with Wellington N2980.
Ashore for the first time in 45 years, Wellington N2980 is lifted out of the loch.
Minus its rear fuselage, the bulk of ‘R-for-Robert’ is brought to the shoreline in September 1985. BOTH BRITISH AEROSPACE
03/10/2013 15:01
78
Wellington
Special
Cover star Gracing the front cover is an example of the gifted skills of American artist and pilot David Ails. It depicts 20 OTU Wellington Ia N2980 flying in weather far removed from the day of its demise. David has been creating digital artwork since 2005, and from 2007 linked up with regular FlyPast writer Warren E Thompson to illustrate his features. David offers signed and unsigned prints of his many compositions and welcomes commissions. www.ailsaviationart.com COURTESY DAVID AILS © 2013
Wellington N2980 is a tribute to the genius of Barnes Wallis.
hardened veteran
Looking forward within the fuselage of ‘R-forRobert’, showing the wireless operator’s station and a glimpse into the cockpit. BOTH KEY-DUNCAN CUBITT
76-78_Robert_Wellington.ke.indd 78
Vickers test pilot ‘Mutt’ Summers put the throttles forward on Wellington Ia N2980 at Brooklands on November 16, 1939 to start pre-delivery tests. Four days later the ‘Wimpey’ was issued to 149 Squadron at Mildenhall, taking on the code letters ‘OJ-R’ – R-for-Robert. On December 18 N2980 was one of 24 Wellingtons from 9, 37 and 149 Squadrons destined to take part in the fateful ‘Battle of Heligoland Bight’. As related in the feature Command Backbone, only ten returned, R-for-Robert among them. Moving to Feltwell in Norfolk on May 30, 1940 N2980 joined 37 Squadron and flew 14 ‘ops’ with the unit. Upgrading to the Mk.Ic in October, 37 Squadron gave up N2980 on the 6th and it was ferried to 20 OTU at Lossiemouth. Here it kept its individual code letter ‘R’. When David Marwood-Elton brought R-for-Robert down on to the surface of Loch Ness, the bomber had chalked up 330 hours,
20 minutes flying time. That might not seem a lot, but for an operational Wellington in the early years of the war, this made it a veteran.
‘Monster’ hunting American Marty Klein used very hightech sonar equipment in 1976 in an
attempt to find the famed ‘Loch Ness Monster’. He picked up lots of traces, but not a single swimming dinosaur. He did, however, make the headlines by finding the remains of what he thought was a Catalina flying-boat in the depths of the loch. Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh had been developing remotelyoperated vehicle (ROV) technology for the offshore oil industry and in 1978 decided that finding the Catalina would be an excellent practical trial for the submersible. The images that the ROV brought back showed that this was no Catalina, it was a Wellington. In 1979 a Royal Navy diving team proved that it was N2980. The condition of R-for-Robert was deteriorating – a trawler net had snagged the nose and the wings were suffering. With all the publicity it was becoming a well-known ‘target’ for divers, and souvenir hunting was bound to start. Heriot Watt’s Robin Holmes decided that the Wellington should be salvaged and he set up a charity in 1984 to achieve this, the Loch Ness Wellington Association. He set about seeking sponsors and, among others, FlyPast magazine lent its support. On the second attempt, the Wellington came to the surface on September 21, 1985. Six days later a team from British Aerospace delivered N2980 to its birthplace, Brooklands. There the Brooklands Museum embarked upon an exacting restoration of the ‘Loch Ness’ Wellington, putting it back on its undercarriage and returning it to the condition it was in when it took off from Lossiemouth on New Year’s Eve 1940. Well almost, the wise decision was taken to only partially cover the airframe and to leave the rest as vivid testament to the rugged and ground-breaking geodetic structure devised by its designer, Barnes Wallis.
03/10/2013 15:01
Your favourite magazine is now available digitally. DOWNLOAD THE APP NOW FOR FREE.
FREE APP with sample issue
IN APP ISSUES £3.99
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE Monthly £2.99 6 issues £19.99 12 issues £34.99
Pages
94-95
SEARCH: FlyPast
Read on your
iPhone & iPad
Android
PC & Mac
kindle fire
SEARCH:
SEARCH Britain at War
ALSO
AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
Windows 8
SEARCH
BRITAIN AT WAR
AVIATION NEWS
FREE APP
FREE APP
IN APP ISSUES £3.99
IN APP ISSUES £3.99
with sample issue
NEW Aviation Specials App FREE DOWNLOAD IN APP ISSUES
£3.99 Simply download to purchase digital versions of your favourite aviation specials in one handy place! Once you have the app, you will be able to download new, out of print or archive specials iTunes for less than the cover price!
Blackberry
with sample issue
How it Works.
Simply download the FlyPast app and receive your sample issue completely free. Once you have the app, you will be able to download new or back issues (from September 2010 onwards) for less than newsstand price or, alternatively, subscribe to save even more!
Don’t forget to register for your Pocketmags account. This will protect your purchase in the event of a damaged or lost device. It will also allow you to view your purchases on multiple platforms. PC, Mac & Windows 8
Available on PC, Mac, Blackberry, Windows 8 and kindle fire from Requirements for app: registered iTunes account on Apple iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4S, 5, iPod Touch or iPad 1, 2, 3 or 4. Internet connection required for initial download. Published by Key Publishing Ltd. The entire contents of these titles are © copyright 2013. All rights reserved. App prices subject to change.
692/13 151/13
80
Wellington
Special
E-BOAT
HUNTERS GERMAN E-BOATS WERE A DEADLY THREAT TO THE ALLIES, SO 524 SQUADRON WAS SPECIFICALLY TASKED TO COUNTER THEM. ANDREW THOMAS RELATES THE UNIT’S BRIEF CAREER
”THEY OPERATED IN PACKS OF THREE TO SIX, USUALLY TRAVELLING AT 35 KNOTS NO MATTER HOW BAD THE SEA STATE...” German E-boats usually operated at night and were formidable opponents, always travelling at high speed even in the worst of weather. VIA JOHN WEAL
Hunters_80-85.ke.indd 80
O
ne of the less well-known tasks performed by Coastal Command Wellingtons was to counter the considerable threat posed by E-boats. These fast, torpedo-armed vessels were given the name Schnellboot by the Kriegsmarine, the German navy. In the weeks before D-Day, 524 Squadron was re-formed specifically to secure the waters off Normandy from these deadly adversaries. No.524 had enjoyed a brief existence during the closing months of 1943 when it had formed at Oban to introduce the
Martin Mariner flying-boat to RAF service (see panel). However, before a full evaluation could be made, it was decided not to accept the type and the unit was disbanded on December 7.
Setting up As planning for the invasion progressed, dedicated assets to tackle any intervention by surface forces were required and so 524 Squadron was reborn on April 7, 1944 at Davidstow Moor in Cornwall. One of the original pilots, Flt Lt Gordon Willis, recounted: “The aim
was inhibiting enemy surface shipping movements at night. Prior to D-Day [524’s] operating area was the western English Channel; thereafter the areas were those ahead of the Land Front, successively the coastal shipping routes off the coasts of north-west France, Belgium, Holland and, finally, northwest Germany. Throughout its existence, there were very few nights when it did not operate. “The first personnel reported to Davidstow Moor on April 20th, 1944; the first aircraft arrived on the 25th and the first operational sortie was flown on
04/10/2013 13:01
81
the 29th/30th. Initially commanded by Sqn Ldr Naismith, the unit comprised only eight crews, all of whom were experienced with a completed tour on either anti-sub or anti-shipping to their credit. “The original captains were Flt Lt the Hon Bruce Grimston dfc*, Flt Lt Alan Comfort dfc, Flt Lt John Pugh dfc*, Flt Lt Bruno Brown DFC, Fg Off John Stancombe, Fg Off Young, Fg Off Jim Cobb and myself. Only the crews of Stancombe, Cobb and myself saw out the full life of the squadron. “Until November 1944 we used
Hunters_80-85.ke.indd 81
the Wellington XIII fitted with an array of ‘stickleback’ aerials and a ‘T-bar’ radar display showing only distance plus degrees left or right. From December, Mk.XIVs were used with a chin-housed scanner and plan position indicator [PPI] presentation for the radar operator. This provided a massive improvement in capability with its comprehensive picture of enemy contacts, the coastline and their relative positions. “Crews comprised two pilots, one navigator and three wireless operator/ air gunners who rotated between radar,
radio and rear turret. Occasionally an extra WOP/AG would be available for visual look-out from the astrodome.”
Changing target areas The radar and powerful flares for target illumination were essential as the domain of the E-boats was the cloak of darkness. During May, 524’s crews began co-operating with the antishipping Bristol Beaufighters of 144 and 404 Squadrons stationed alongside them at Davidstow Moor. As Gordon Willis recalled,
Top: Fg Off James Cobb (third from left) and his crew in front of an all-black Wellington XIII at Davidstow Moor. H J COBB
Above: By early 1945 the unit had been re-equipped with Wellington XIVs: Flt Lt Cobb and some of his crew at Langham in front of NB854. H J COBB
04/10/2013 13:01
82
Wellington
Special
Mariner origins No.524 Squadron was formed at Oban, Scotland, on October 20, 1943 for operational evaluation of the Martin Mariner I flying-boat, 28 of which were earmarked for Coastal Command. The Mariner I was the equivalent of the US Navy’s PBM-3B and was powered by a pair of 1,700hp (1,268kW) Wright R-2600s, had a span of 118ft (35.9m), an all-up weight of 39,000lb (17,690kg) and a maximum range of 3,200 miles (5,149km). The unit used ten Mariners for its task but the type was rejected for operational service, the bulk of the Mariner Is not being delivered. No.524 disbanded at Oban on December 7, 1943. As related in the narrative, it re-formed at Davidstow Moor on April 7, 1944, moving to Docking, then Bircham Newton and disbanding at Langham on May 25, 1945. During that time it was equipped with Wellington XIIIs until December 1944 when Mk.XIVs began to arrive.
Mariner I JX103 was with the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Helensburgh before it was issued to 524 Squadron. Of the RAF Mariners, it was the last one ‘on the books’, being struck off charge on August 6, 1947. KEY-GORDON SWANBOROUGH COLLECTION
”WE CARRIED 250 OR 500LB MEDIUM CAPACITY BOMBS FITTED WITH AIR PISTOLS SET TO DETONATE ABOUT 100FT ABOVE THE SEA.”
No.524 Squadron’s final CO, Sqn Ldr Gordon Willis (right). G E WILLIS
Hunters_80-85.ke.indd 82
their bleak Cornish outpost had its problems: “At 800ft above sea level, it was bedevilled by low cloud and, being without approach aids, diversions were the order of the day, especially after the unit suffered its first fatalities when Fg Off Young landed 400 yards short of the runway when attempting to land early one misty morning. “The shortcomings of ‘D Moor’ were offset to some degree by fairly frequent pre-positioning at Dunkeswell [in Devon, a US Navy base] which provided the advantages of a better weather factor, approach aids and, of course, being closer to our operating area, enabling longer patrols.” During its first full month 524 mounted 40 ‘ops’, most of which were uneventful. The frequency of sorties
increased in early June as the invasion began with the squadron concentrating in the seas off the Channel Islands and the port of Cherbourg. Once the Allied armies were secure ashore and the threat from the Kriegsmarine in western France had receded, 524 was moved to Docking in Norfolk on July 1 to conduct its specialised tasks off the Dutch coast. On arrival it absorbed the Wellington Flight of 415 Squadron RCAF and instantly doubled its complement to 16 aircraft. With Wg Cdr Ronnie Knott as CO, 524 was soon in action on its new ‘patch’. One crew bombed several ships off the Somme Estuary on the night of July 7. Mk.XIII MF375 was lost to flak on the 9th and MF374 failed to return on the 13th.
04/10/2013 13:01
83
”IN SPITE OF FIERCE ANTI AIRCRAFT FIRE, AN EXCELLENT RUN WAS MADE AND THE BOMBS STRADDLED THE VESSELS.” Soon afterwards the HQ and the Maintenance Flight moved to better facilities at nearby Bircham Newton, although operations were usually mounted from Docking, or forward bases at Manston in Kent or Thorney Island in Hampshire. Despite all the disruption caused by the changes, 80 sorties were staged during July, some of which made attacks on enemy coastal shipping and escort vessels.
Captain’s discretion Gordon Willis described operational procedures employed against the E-boats: “Aircraft patrolled a coastal area approximately 60 by 80 miles in length, usually a cross-over or ‘box’ at varying heights to around 2,000 or 3,000ft depending on visibility, weather etc. “Mostly, the priority was the reporting of all contacts in the designated area with attacks being permitted only after Group’s permission had been obtained. Other times areas were given where attacks were at the captain’s discretion but still after making the appropriate report. “Targets were invariably acquired by radar. Attacks could be made visually making use of natural light, moonpath or flares or, if the cloud precluded any of these, by means of radar. Bombs were usually dropped in sticks and most attacks were made from a height of around 2,000ft. “The lowest altitude from which I personally dropped was about 1,200ft. But I only did it once and then only in order to [be] below the cloud base. The resultant ‘lift’ due to the explosion was frightening and did little good to either the aircraft or the crew’s morale! “Results were difficult to assess. One rarely came across worthwhile targets on their own; invariably they travelled in convoys of from six to nine vessels fairly close together, thus making a fair target. E-boats operated in packs of three to six, usually travelling at 35 knots no matter how bad the sea state in line astern, close formation and providing an even better target.
Hunters_80-85.ke.indd 83
“Bombing attacks often stopped E-boats in their tracks and I imagine the crews would have been particularly vulnerable to the air burst detonations. With larger targets one was occasionally rewarded with one’s attack being followed by some goodly fires, explosions and pyrotechnical displays. Goodness knows the degree of material damage inflicted as I don’t remember there ever being any intelligence feedback.”
‘Stickleback’ radar aerials prominent on a Wellington XIII of 524 Squadron. R E G COLLINS
Supporting others During August, 524 was mainly engaged on purblind sorties, locating and illuminating targets for the North Coates Wing Beaufighters. One of these Gordon Willis recalled: “I flew the first of these, co-operating with 455 Squadron and my old unit, 489. “Group informed the Wellington of the estimated time of arrival of the ‘Beaus’ and shortly before the ETA we laid a circle of marine markers about 15 miles from the target. On cue from the ‘Beau’ leader, the Wellington dropped flares on the far side of the target. In this instance [it] was just off the entrance to Cherbourg harbour,
James Cobb and his crew posing on a trolley of 250lb bombs. H J COBB
requiring about three runs across at 4,000ft to position the flares correctly – a very noisy experience! However, the ‘Beaus’ did a good job.” The Wellingtons also made attacks, and on the night of August 6/7 one crew successfully struck a formation of eight E-boats, two of which were sunk. Losses on these sorties were inevitable and on the night of September 1 two aircraft went down. September was nevertheless a successful month with a dredger sunk off the Scheldt on the night of the 11th and another crew assisted 143 Squadron’s Beaufighters and the Grumman Avengers of 855 Squadron Fleet Air Arm in sinking the 2,500-ton torpedo-boat T-61 off the West Frisian islands. These units combined again the next night to sink another ship in the same area. No.524 was generally tasked with sorties off the ports of Den Helder, Ijmuiden, Rotterdam and the Frisians and while free-ranging rover patrols were flown during the ‘moon’ period; on dark nights more complex tactics were employed. On the night of October 2, four
04/10/2013 13:01
84
Wellington
Special
Wellingtons were supporting six ‘Beaus’ from 489 and six of 855’s Avengers. Mk.XIII MF577 left Bircham Newton at 18:30 hours and although routine signals were received at 20:20 and again at 21:00, despite the mainly fine weather, with a moon, nothing further was seen or heard of Flt Lt A R Brown and his crew. Another crew was lost the following night, although in return a 1,900-ton ship was sunk off Borkum.
Bitter winter war As winter approached, Coastal Command continued its bitterly fought campaign off northern Europe and 524 played its full part. Owing to the waterlogged state of Docking in mid-October the aircraft moved to Langham where the whole of 524 concentrated by the end of the month. During December the first Wellington XIVs arrived, equipped with the improved centimetric anti-surface vessel (ASV) Mk.III radar. Operations continued unabated as crews converted to the new equipment, often in the face of dreadful weather. On Christmas Eve, 524 sank a tug off the Hook of Holland and the New Year began in a similar vein – an attack on a group of E-boats on January 11 was rewarded by direct hits and one of the enemy began to sink. Bill Sutcliffe
described an act of chivalry: “The other E-boats turned around and stopped to pick up the survivors... The circling aircraft would have been able to destroy the whole group but recognised this act of extreme bravery and flew on!” As well as flak, night-fighters were also a threat. Mk.XIV HZ644, skippered by Flt Lt Ron McGregor, left Langham in mid-afternoon on January 14 on the crew’s 29th ‘op’ bound for the inner coastal convoy route off the Frisians as far as Borkum. They might well have attacked and sunk a ‘Schnellboot’, but were shot down by a Junkers Ju 88G. Their nemesis was probably the ninevictory Fw Heinze Koppe of 10/NJG 3 who claimed a Wellington in the area that night. Despite searches the following day, no trace of the crew was found. Ironically, the following month the London Gazette announced the award of the DFC to McGregor and Plt Off Geoffrey Hamm, the navigator, for their actions with 524 the previous December. The citation read: “They have displayed commendable skill and courage and throughout have set a high standard of devotion to duty. On one occasion during a sortie in December 1944, they sighted six E-boats leaving Ijmuiden. Flt Lt McGregor
A Wellington XIV provides a backdrop for a final photograph of 524 Squadron, May 1945. A W MILLS
”THE LOWEST ALTITUDE FROM WHICH I PERSONALLY DROPPED WAS ABOUT 1,200FT. THE RESULTANT ’LIFT’ DUE TO THE EXPLOSION WAS FRIGHTENING...” Hunters_80-85.ke.indd 84
immediately turned to the attack. In spite of fierce anti-aircraft fire, an excellent run was made and the bombs straddled the vessels. “One of the boats fell out of formation and then apparently sank. After making another attack on the enemy force they shadowed the vessels and reported their position whilst further attacks were made by other aircraft. Flt Lt McGregor and Pilot Officer Hamm displayed exceptional resolution throughout this notable sortie.” Another E-boat strike followed at the end of the month: among the crew was Andrew Hendrie, later a well-known aviation author. He recalled: “On January 29, I got airborne in Wellington HF348 captained by Fg Off Doug Lister. On patrol off Texel we attacked five E-boats. They responded with cannon which were fitted at the stern, causing one neat hole in the tailplane, narrowly missing the hinge of an elevator. “We were also asked to report the release of V-2s from the enemy-controlled coast. One night in March I watched some of them launch to disappear and mingle with the stars. “Next day I was awakened by an SP [service policeman] to be told that my home had been bombed – it had been blasted by a V-2!”
Challenging and dangerous On the night of February 24, Flt Lt Elwyn Davis and crew flying HF283 attacked and sank an E-boat off Scheveningen but the aircraft was hit by return fire and had to ditch. Unit records described the incident: “They sighted a force of eight enemy E-boats… Some time later, Flt Lt Davis dived to the attack.
04/10/2013 13:01
85
Specialised Weaponry Flt Lt Gordon Willis, a pilot with 524 Squadron, described the weapons carried: “We carried 250 or 500lb medium-capacity bombs fitted with air pistols set to detonate about 100ft above the sea. These bombs were armed prior to take-off and, once armed, could not be dropped other than ‘live’. The parachute flares had about a 30-second delay ignition and we had the power-operated rear turret with four 0.303in Browning guns. Standard loads were six or nine bombs plus flares or three bombs, flares and an overload tank.”
“In spite of fierce fire [he] pressed home. Bomb bursts were seen to straddle one of the vessels which were also machine-gunned. Later on, a second attack was made. As he went in, Flt Lt Davis was met with intense and accurate fire. The aircraft was hit repeatedly. Half-a-mile from the target, the port wing burst into flames. Nevertheless, Fg Off Taylor coolly continued to direct his pilot on to the target and a straight and level bombing run was executed. “Soon afterwards the aircraft became uncontrollable and could no longer be flown. By this time, the fuselage was on fire along most of its length. Coolly and skillfully, Flt Lt Davis brought the aircraft down on to the water. It broke up on impact. Sadly, only Davis and Brook Taylor, the New Zealand navigator, managed to extricate themselves from the wreckage to be rescued...” Both received well-earned DFCs for this action. March began badly when, on the 4th, Fg Off Alan Crabtree’s crew was lost, thought to have tragically been the victim of a Mosquito that had misidentified the Wellington. In the early hours of the 6th, Flt Lt Meggison’s crew, in NB772, located three E-boats and engaged them in the face of heavy fire, leaving at least one damaged. The squadron began illuminating and marking targets for the Royal Navy, techniques that were refined during March with the aircraft directing the
Hunters_80-85.ke.indd 85
Above left: Parachute flares being armed before loading into a 524 Squadron Mk.XIII. Above right: Armourers loading 250lb air-burst bombs and high-power flares into the bomb bay of a Wellington. BOTH A W MILLS
”...POWERFUL FLARES FOR TARGET ILLUMINATION WERE ESSENTIAL AS THE DOMAIN OF THE E BOATS WAS THE CLOAK OF DARKNESS.” ships onto their targets. The procedures were codenamed taboo and physic. One of the navigators, Fg Off Danny Clare, remembered these sorties: “We shadowed the E-boats and finally vectored motor torpedo boats, frigates and sometimes destroyers onto them. “After watching the fun and games we were allowed to bomb any stragglers... We had ‘Gee’ of course and ASV radar so the job was not too difficult but the E-boat gunnery was very good and we did have some losses.” With the enemy in total disarray, 524 had its final action on the night of April 25/26 when four minesweepers were hit. Patrols over the Straits of Dover looking for midget submarines were flown in early May. The final sortie was
staged on the 11th. Soon afterwards most of the pilots and navigators were posted to Transport Command and Sqn Ldr Gordon Willis took command until 524 was disbanded in late June. In little over a year on ‘ops’ in a challenging and dangerous role it had played a significant part in the destruction of enemy shipping and the efforts were recognised by the award of no fewer than 21 gallantry decorations . Perhaps the last word should belong to the squadron’s longest serving captain, Gordon Willis: “524 was a fine unit with loads of spirit. The whole unit ticked well, air and ground crews – and, within its obvious limitations, did an excellent job of work.”
04/10/2013 13:01
86
Wellington
Special
BOMBER TURNED SAVIOUR
AIR CDRE GRAHAM PITCHFORK DESCRIBES THE WORK OF THE UNSUNG WARWICK AIR-SEA RESCUE UNITS
W
ith problems persisting throughout its time in service, the Warwick is considered by most to have been a failure. The type’s one success, often forgotten, was in the air-sea rescue role. This article serves to acknowledge the life-saving exploits of Warwick aircrew and the virtues of their too often maligned aircraft. In company with three other Mosquitos of 157 Squadron, Fg Off Philip Huckin and his navigator, Flt Sgt Robert Graham, took off at 2.50pm on January 7, 1944, from Predannack in Cornwall. They were flying Mk.II HJ660 and heading for the Bay of Biscay on an offensive patrol and to provide fighter cover for anti-submarine aircraft hunting for U-boats in the area.
During an engagement with Junkers Ju 88 long-range fighters, Huckin shot one down but return fire damaged his Mosquito and he was forced to ditch in a long, heavy swell and a choppy sea 200 miles (321km) south of Land’s End. Another Mosquito transmitted an SOS call. The two men scrambled clear, taking a ‘K’ type dinghy with them. They inflated their Mae Wests and quickly boarded the aircraft’s ‘L’ dinghy, which had inflated the right way up. The pair took stock of their situation and Huckin transferred to the singleman ‘K’ type, which they lashed to the larger ‘L’. After a sleepless night in heavy rain, they hoisted a sail and tracked north at 1 knot. During the morning a Mosquito found them. Shortly
afterwards five Beaufighters arrived escorting a 280 Squadron Warwick, which was carrying a lifeboat. The captain, Flt Lt George Chesher, made a perfect drop and the lifeboat landed 100 yards downwind of the dinghies. The Mosquito crew paddled across to the lifeboat and were soon aboard where they found a message saying “Steer 350 T, Good luck”. They quickly donned the survival suits before starting one of the motors and heading north. After running at 3 knots for an hour, the engine stopped because the drogue, which had not been properly stowed, had fouled the propeller. The port motor was started and they resumed their journey. The two men devised a rationing plan based on four weeks. They tidied up the boat and made good progress
87
Warwick GR.V PN698 was also retained by the A&AEE for extensive trials between 1944 and 1947. KEY-GORDON SWANBOROUGH COLLECTION
for the rest of the day without seeing any other ship or aircraft. Using a compass from the lifeboat’s emergency pack, Graham took on the navigation responsibilities and maintained a plot and log throughout the incident. Despite problems with the motors they made steady progress. They had no sailing experience so followed the instructions in the lifeboat’s pamphlet and hoisted the sail. Towards dusk, the wind increased and they stowed the sails and streamed the sea drogue, riding out a gale for eight hours. By dawn on the 10th the wind had abated so the sail was set and good progress was made with an estimated speed of 3 to 4 knots. A Mosquito arrived in the afternoon and orbited before waggling its wings and departing due north. The men
assumed this to be the direction to sail and altered course. Later the visibility dropped to 100 yards and the cloud base was barely above the sea. Throughout the following day the wind varied, but it was mainly from the west. Graham adjusted the course accordingly and the lifeboat continued to make progress northwards. Visibility remained very poor, and as the wind dropped off in the evening the men decided to furl the sails and try to get some rest.
Warwick ASR.I HG211 of 280 Squadron, based at Strubby, June 1944. PETE WEST © 2013
Soon afterwards they thought they heard the sound of aircraft engines, but nothing materialised. Before long they heard the engine noise again and then two surface craft appeared which, as they came nearer, were recognised as navy rescue launches. A two-star red flare was fired and the survivors were seen. At midnight the two survivors jumped aboard RML 534 where they were given a change of clothing and promptly put to bed. They were only 35 miles south of the Scilly Islands and 15 miles from the position estimated by Graham. RML 526 towed the lifeboat into port. The official report commented that Huckin and Graham had set a very high standard of initiative and skill coupled with great courage, fortitude and determination during their 103 hours afloat in the middle of winter. Neither man sustained injury throughout the incident, not even during the ditching. At no time did either feel they would not succeed. This confidence stemmed from their sound knowledge of ditching, dinghy drills and survival at sea. Perhaps this was to be expected since Huckin was the squadron’s airsea rescue officer!
”...THEY STOWED THE SAILS AND STREAMED THE SEA DROGUE AND RODE OUT A GALE FOR EIGHT HOURS.”
88
Wellington
Special
Two weeks after their ordeal it was announced that Huckin and Graham had been awarded an immediate DFC and DFM respectively. The citations were fulsome in their praise of the two men’s “exceptional qualities of valour and determination, which never wavered and have set an example of the highest order”. The captain of the Warwick, George Chesher, and his crew had the satisfaction of knowing their efforts had resulted in the saving of the downed Mosquito crew. They were soon back in action, unaware that they too would welcome the sight of a Warwick overhead dropping a lifeboat to them.
”THE CITATIONS WERE FULSOME IN PRAISE OF THE TWO MEN FOR EXCEPTIONAL QUALITIES OF VALOUR AND DETERMINATION, WHICH NEVER WAVERED AND HAVE SET AN EXAMPLE OF THE HIGHEST ORDER”.
Rescuers in peril Throughout the first week of October 1944, the Warwicks of 280 Squadron were constantly in action searching for ditched crews in the North Sea. It proved to be one of the busiest and most demanding periods of the unit’s activities. Among those they were searching for were a Beaufighter crew of 489 (RNZAF) Squadron, shot down on October 1. Two Warwicks had located the two survivors early on the 7th before George Chesher and his crew were tasked to relieve them. They took off at 10.55am from Langham in ASR.I BV368 and headed for the dinghy’s last known position. At 12.45 the crew sighted four dinghies tied together and two more nearby and estimated there were ten survivors, almost certainly the crew of a USAAF Fortress that had sent out a distress signal. Chesher felt compelled to assist these men and dropped his lifeboat 20 yards away and saw the survivors scramble aboard. As the Warwick circled, two Messerschmitt Me 410 fighters appeared from cloud and attacked as the rescue aircraft’s two gunners returned fire. One of the fighters was hit and left the scene with one engine trailing smoke. The other carried out a series of assaults, wounding two of the Warwick’s crew and severely damaging the hydraulic system. The undercarriage fell down, both engines were hit and the tail was set on fire. Chesher ditched BV368, which sank almost immediately. Fortunately the dinghy inflated automatically and all the crew were able to scramble clear and get aboard. The six men spent a miserable night, baling out water most of the time. The air gunner had been badly
A lifeboat under sail.
wounded during the attacks, Chesher had a shrapnel wound in his leg and the navigator, Flt Sgt B Jones, dislocated his shoulder during the ditching. The crew managed to salvage the Lindholme container which provided welcome supplies. At 3.15pm, two Mosquitos sighted the dinghy and radioed for help. Four Warwicks were launched early the following morning to search for a number of missing aircraft, including Chesher’s crew. Fg Off L Harvey found a dinghy with six men. He dropped his lifeboat at 12.20pm but it hit the sea nose-down and overturned. In the meantime, New Zealander Fg Off E Rhodes made radio contact with Harvey, but his aircraft was almost immediately attacked by German fighters. He quickly sought cover in the overcast where he managed to evade the enemy. Harvey then alerted him that his lifeboat had capsized and was unusable, so Rhodes headed for the area where he soon spotted Harvey’s circling Warwick. Positioning an airborne lifeboat ready for hoisting into position on a Warwick.
89
Artwork from a VickersArmstrongs advertisement showing the ASR.I in action. KEY COLLECTION
90
Wellington
Special
No matter what cost Rhodes dropped his lifeboat accurately and the survivors quickly clambered aboard before signalling to the two Warwicks: “This is Chesher’s crew – one man injured.” The survivors soon started both motors and steered a course of 255 degrees at six knots for the next three hours to get clear of the enemy coast. German fighters were still very active and one flew over the lifeboat and fired a star shell. A third Warwick, piloted by Canadian Plt Off L Hagg, arrived on the scene and immediately set out to locate a standing patrol of rescue launches. His crew sighted them at 1.15pm and started to direct them to the lifeboat – but the heavy German activity made this unsafe and the launches had to turn away when Hagg was also ordered to return to base. Attempts were made to contact the fourth Warwick, but it did not answer the radio calls and failed to return to base. Next on the scene were two Beaufighters to provide a fighter escort for the circling rescue aircraft – and one was soon attacking an Me 410 and driving it away. At 2.45pm Sqn Ldr W Harpur arrived to relieve the two Warwicks, but he soon had to seek cover in the nearby cloud as a German fighter closed to attack. An hour later he returned to the scene and remained with the lifeboat until darkness descended. The lifeboat continued heading west through the night, first on one engine and then the other. When the fuel ran out early the next morning they hoisted the sail to maintain progress. Meanwhile Fg Off F Williamson had taken off at dawn in a Warwick and soon found the lifeboat, 80 miles clear of the enemy coast. Royal Navy launch RML 27 had left Great Yarmouth but Williamson was unable to contact it using the VHF radio. It was sighted 7 miles away and he led it to the dinghy, which it reached at 9.08am. The six survivors were soon transferred to the RML. Fg Officer Postgate, captaining RAF high speed launch HSL 2697, arrived on the scene to take the lifeboat in tow, but after 50 miles it was damaged and not worth recovering, so it was sunk by the launch’s gunfire. The rescue of this Warwick crew, who had themselves gone to the aid of survivors, took place under the noses of the Germans. Being experts in airsea rescue, Chesher and his crew were
well placed to make best use of all the survival aids, not least the airborne lifeboat which they sailed for 17 hours away from the enemy coast. Sadly, the rescue was completed at a cost and Fg Off A Mason and his crew were lost without trace. For his determined efforts to drop his lifeboat to the B-17 crew, his conduct during the ditching and the rescue of his crew, George Chesher was awarded an immediate DFC.
Remarkable trilogy On April 2, 1945, Lt Ray Veitch, a South African pilot on 260 Squadron, was flying his Mustang as part of a formation of ten aircraft attacking trains in the Maribor-Graz area on the borders of Yugoslavia and Austria. During the rocket attack, Veitch’s aircraft was hit by light anti-aircraft fire and the engine started to leak glycol. At 7,000ft (2,133m) he had just crossed the coast of the Istrian peninsula when the engine failed. Veitch baled out and landed in the sea 4 miles from the shore. He climbed aboard his dinghy and waited. His formation leader had alerted the rescue services and a Mustang remained overhead until a Walrus appeared. But it soon became apparent that Veitch was in a minefield and it was impossible for the amphibian to alight. A Warwick, HF968, piloted by Fg Off F G Weaver, was scrambled from Foggia and arrived over the dinghy at 11.23am escorted by Spitfires. After assessing the situation, Weaver dropped his lifeboat 50 yards from Veitch who had no difficulty paddling towards it and climbing aboard. A boat then appeared from the enemy coast to investigate, but Mustangs drove it off. Veitch, who had no sailing experience, followed the written operating instructions and soon had one of the engines working. Weaver had included a note telling Veitch to steer for the open sea where he would be picked up. A Catalina of the USAAF’s 1st Emergency Rescue Squadron (ERS) appeared and put down a line of smoke floats for Veitch to follow. When he reached the end of the line, the Catalina was waiting to pick him up. So ended the first part of a remarkable trilogy.
A Warwick ASR.I of 280 Squadron.
Right: The prototype Warwick, K8178, at Brooklands. It first flew on August 13, 1939, powered by RollsRoyce Vultures. KEY-GORDON SWANBOROUGH COLLECTION
Haven’t we met before? At first light on April 5, six Mustangs took off to attack road and rail transport in the Ljubljana area. As Veitch dived to attack, small arms fire hit the engine of his Mustang and he pulled away with an ominous stream of glycol coolant from the engine. With Lt Nelson in company, he climbed to 7,000ft and headed for the coast, crossing it at
91
Trieste. Shortly afterwards the engine seized and he was forced to bale out – his second ditching in three days. Nelson watched him descend, hit the water and clamber into his dinghy. Veitch had landed just 2 miles off the enemy coast and Nelson had to drive off an approaching motor torpedo boat, which he damaged with his rockets. As Nelson was forced to leave due to lack of fuel, Spitfires and Mustangs arrived to relieve him and were soon in action driving off enemy aircraft and vessels. Throughout the morning a succession of Spitfires and Mustangs kept watch over the dinghy. A US Catalina, piloted by Lt Kaminski, arrived but it was soon apparent that a combination of mines and gunfire from ashore made it too dangerous to attempt a landing. It was decided the only chance of rescuing Veitch was to repeat the successful operation of 72 hours earlier. Warwick BV449 was scrambled from Foggia and Fg Off Goldspink and his crew headed north.
Escorted by five Mustangs, it arrived at 4.15pm and was immediately engaged by anti-aircraft fire from shore batteries. Despite this interference, Goldspink made a perfect drop and Veitch was soon aboard the lifeboat. He started the engines and immediately set off on a heading of 210 degrees. As the Warwick left, the shore batteries turned their attention to the lifeboat, one salvo landing 200 yards away. As Veitch sailed out of range of the guns, enemy naval vessels appeared in an attempt to capture the lifeboat. Mustangs and Mosquitos drove them off, the latter having just arrived on the scene to provide cover as Veitch sailed away from the coast. Undeterred, an enemy boat returned and a Mosquito was forced to sink it.
With parachutes deployed, the rockets fire to project the buoyant lines during a drop of an airborne lifeboat. ALL VIA AUTHOR UNLESS NOTED
”CHESHER DITCHED BV368, WHICH SANK ALMOST IMMEDIATELY... ALL THE CREW WERE ABLE TO SCRAMBLE CLEAR AND GET ABOARD.”
Warwicks to the rescue Virtually identical in structure to the Wellington, the Warwick was designed to meet Air Ministry specification B1/35 issued in May 1935 for a heavy bomber. The aircraft was beset with problems from the outset and the prototype did not fly until August 13, 1939. The choice of a suitable engine caused major delays to production and eventually the Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp was selected. A combination of the late delivery
of the engines, the loss of early prototypes and stability problems caused such long delays that Bomber Command had no further need for the Warwic by the time the four-engine ‘heavies’ started to enter service. All hope for the type as a bomber was finally abandoned on January 21, 1943. By September 1941, the rapidly developing ASR services had identified the need for an aircraft for ‘deep search operations’. Two
Hudson squadrons were formed but the type was in short supply and needed for anti-submarine warfare. By the middle of 1942 operational commitments still prevented the release of sufficient Hudsons. The Director of ASR suggested a nonoperational type should be used and the Warwick was proposed. In March 1943 the air staff approved the Warwick, with four squadrons to be formed for Coastal Command
and one in Fighter Command, each with 20 aircraft.. Delays in production prevented the re-equipment until the late summer. On July 9, 1943, 20 Warwick ASR.Is, equipped with the new airborne lifeboat and Lindholme gear, joined 280 Squadron. The build-up was very slow but eventually 364 ASR Warwicks were built, equipping seven squadrons based in the UK and eight overseas.
92
Wellington
Special
Airborne Lifeboat As the range of operations increased, it was inevitable that some aircrew would be forced to ditch or bale out in places too far from the coast to be rescued by marine craft. Gp Capt E F Waring, station commander at Lindholme and inventor of the Lindholme rescue gear, had the idea of carrying a motor-driven lifeboat under an aircraft and dropping it by parachute. The crew could then sail the boat to friendly waters where they could be picked up more easily. When Waring moved to the Air Ministry in September 1941, he continued to work on his idea with the support of Lt Robb RNVR, a boat-building expert. He made drawings of a 20ft vessel – fitted with a sail, oars and motor – that could carry five to seven people. A boat descending under parachutes would drift downwind and probably out of reach of the crew in the water. So it was fitted with a rocket-fired weighted drogue attached to the bows to form a sea anchor. The GQ Parachute Company devised a suitable parachute release gear. To prevent the boat capsizing, buoyancy chambers were inflated by the action of the opening parachutes operating carbon dioxide bottles. In a rough sea a crew may not be able to see the lifeboat, and even if they managed to reach it they could find it impossible to remain alongside. A rocket was installed at each beam which fired automatically on impact with the sea; each carried 200ft of buoyant line to be ejected, one either side. The crew in their dinghy could drift down to one of these lines and haul themselves aboard. Waring’s idea did not attract a great deal of interest initially but Uffa Fox, a well-known builder of small sailing craft, heard of the idea and produced a similar scheme. He submitted the idea direct to the Minister of Aircraft Production at the end of December 1941 and within a few weeks approval to proceed was given. Fox was asked to amend his design to meet the advanced ideas put forward
by Waring and Robb. The result was virtually identical, but it still became known as the Uffa Fox Boat. In February 1942, approval was given for minor modifications to Hudsons to carry the boat. Preliminary tests in August were successful and on September 19 it was agreed to produce the Airborne Lifeboat Mk.I. Authorisation was given for 24 Mk.I boats to cover the period during which an improved version was developed for the forthcoming Warwick. In April a specification for a larger boat with longer range (the Mk.II) was drawn up. This was 30ft long, capable of travelling 300 miles at 7 knots and could carry ten men. Development would take time so a further 50 Mk.Is were ordered for modification and fitting to the Warwick until the Mk.II was available. The modified type, the Mk.IA, was available for trials in September 1943. On January 7, 1944, the first successful operation with a Mk.IA lifeboat was achieved when one was dropped to a Mosquito crew in the Bay of Biscay.
”SHORTLY AFTERWARDS THE ENGINE SEIZED AND HE WAS FORCED TO BALE OUT... HIS SECOND DITCHING IN THREE DAYS.”
A handful of airborne lifeboats survive in museums. This one is at Cowes on the Isle of Wight. KEN ELLIS
Veitch sailed on and as night fell he stopped the engines for fear of alerting patrol boats. He donned one of the survival suits, had a meal and was able to get some sleep. At first light he got under way and at 8am his colleagues on 260 Squadron spotted him. Kaminski and his Catalina appeared with an escort and, wary of mines, he dropped a series of smoke floats leading to a clear area and a note instructing Veitch to follow the smoke. In poor visibility the Catalina crew and escorting Mustang pilots watched the lifeboat reach the open sea when Kaminski alighted on the choppy water. Veitch had difficulty coming alongside, so one of the Catalina crewmen jumped into the sea and helped the South African swim to the amphibian. On board he was greeted with the inevitable: “Haven’t we met before?” A few days later it was announced that Ray Veitch had been awarded the DFC.
WELL Experienced DINGHY DRILL Below: The first C.III, HG215, served only with the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down from 1944 to 1947. KEY-GORDON SWANBOROUGH COLLECTION
At 6pm on April 30, Australian Flt Lt A Rawlings was scrambled in his Warwick to a position in the northern Adriatic where a Mustang pilot was in a dinghy. It was Ray Veitch. During an attack near Udine, his Mustang had been hit by ground fire and, shortly after crossing the coast near Trieste, he was forced to bale out. His
93
TRANSPORT AND PATROLLER Beyond its role in air-sea rescue, the Warwick was adapted as a transport, either for VIPs, troops, or freight. The RAF took delivery of 100 C.IIIs, featuring a detachable freight or additional fuel pannier under the belly. Mk.IIIs served from mid-1944 to May 1946. It was not until November 1944 that a version of the Warwick was issued to the RAF for combat duties. This was the GR.V maritime patroller, powered by Bristol Centaurus VIIs and featuring a search radar under the forward fuselage and a Leigh Light behind the bomb bay. The first of 236 GR.Vs entered service with 179 Squadron at St Eval, but the type had a brief career, being retired from operational units in August 1946. No.2 climbed to allow the shore radar stations to take a fix before returning to the dinghy where he remained until relieved. The weather was bad and the Warwick was forced to crawl up the coast, reaching the area just before dark and in the midst of an electrical storm. The aircraft came under heavy, erratic flak and in the virtually impossible conditions Rawlings had to abandon the search. Veitch’s colleagues, who had been trying to keep the dinghy in sight until the arrival of the Warwick, also had to abandon their vigil due to the weather.
Veitch spent a very uncomfortable night on the rough sea just a few miles off the coast. At dawn, his squadron commander, Sqn Ldr Peter Blomfield , with another Mustang in company, appeared overhead. They immediately called for assistance and a rescue operation was set up. A US Catalina appeared but the sea conditions were too bad for it to alight. It appeared that the dinghy was in a minefield, so a call was put out for an airborne lifeboat. First to arrive on the scene was a Fortress of the 1st ERS. Lt McMurdo dropped an American A-1 lifeboat in
A Warwick ASR.I carrying a Mk.II airborne lifeboat. KEY-GORDON SWANBOROUGH COLLECTION
the correct position. This was the first time 1st ERS had successfully achieved this procedure. Vietch managed to board the lifeboat and started the engines after some difficulty, but eventually he got under way and headed away from the coast. Since the sea state still prevented the Catalina from completing the rescue, a high speed launch was called. At 11.15am Roy Veitch was pulled from the water for an astonishing third time in four weeks. He had survived with the aid of an airborne lifeboat on each occasion. This remarkable sequence of events was unprecedented in the history of airsea rescue. It prompted his Air Officer Commanding, AVM ‘Pussy’ Foster, to suggest Ray Veitch should become the Honorary Commodore of the Desert Air Force Sailing Club! The rescues of Ray Veitch demonstrate an appropriate way to salute the perseverance, and gallantry, of the Warwick crews and the lengths the men of the air-sea rescue services were prepared to go to when one of their colleagues was in distress.
94
Wellington
Special
Air & Ground A PORTFOLIO OF ‘WIMPEY’ AIR AND GROUND CREW
Top: Bombing up a Mk.I of 75 Squadron at Feltwell, 1940. Left and below: A pair of staged photographs showing the extent of the ammunition belt needed to feed the guns in the rear turret. Note the ‘war weary’ appearance of the Wellington. ALL BOB UPPENDAUN COLLECTION UNLESS NOTED
94-95_Crew_wellington.ke.indd 94
03/10/2013 14:58
95
Above: A view from the rear fuselage of Mk.II W5359 of 142 Squadron at Binbrook; on the left is Bob Pearce, wireless operator/air gunner; right is rear gunner Geoff Probert. In the foreground, to the left, is the Elsan chemical toilet, to the right the flare chute. Right: A pair of ground crew pose for a photograph while working on a Wellington at dispersal.
Above: Crew of Mk.II W5440 ‘Q-for-Queenie’ of 142 Squadron at Binbrook, 1941. Left: Fully kitted-up, a 142 Squadron all-sergeant crew. Left to right: Rich (captain), Green (observer), Brown (second pilot), Pringle (front gunner), Geoff Probert (rear gunner), Bob Pearce (wireless operator/air gunner) Below: Men and women of the ground staff of ‘A’ Flight, 166 Squadron pose for a formal photograph in front of a Mk.III at Kirmington, 1943. PETER GREEN COLLECTION
94-95_Crew_wellington.ke.indd 95
03/10/2013 14:59
96
Wellington
Special
WITH THE END OF THE WAR, THE WELLINGTON WAS FAR FROM RETIRING. SAM TYLER DESCRIBES ITS FINAL YEARS, AS A TRAINER
Above: T.10 MF628 after acquisition by Vickers – possibly photographed on its last-ever flight, to Wisley, on January 24, 1955. VICKERS-ARMSTRONGS
B
oth Bomber and Coastal Command had worked the ‘Wimpey’ hard, and as the war came to an end it seemed that the type was heading for rapid retirement. The last examples in the front line were paid off at Langham on July 9, 1945, when Coastal Command’s 612 Squadron disbanded and its Mk.XIVs went to maintenance units. Some Mk.XIVs did not stay idle long. The Royal Hellenic Air Force had been operating Mk.XIIIs since 1945 and topped these up with Mk.XIVs in 1946. Greece flew these veterans until at least 1948. Despite being named after the ‘Iron Duke’ who defeated its forces in 1815, France also wanted the Wellington. Like Greece, Mk.XIIIs were used from 1945, with nearly 40 Mk.XIVs arriving in 1946. France retired its Wellingtons in 1955 – the last of the type in frontline service. But the RAF also had more utility to extract from the Wellington, as a crew trainer. As outlined in Variants and Oddities, the first of the breed were the Mk.XVII and XVIII conversions for the tuition of Mosquito night-fighter radar operators. Immediately post-war some Mk.XIXs were converted for
navigator instruction, but these were just a stop-gap. Boulton Paul at Pendeford, Wolverhampton, were contracted to convert Mk.Xs to replace the XIXs. From early 1946 until March 1952 around 270 transformations to T.10 standard were completed. The bomb bay and rear turret were kept operational, should the aircraft be called upon to carry out bomb aimer or gunner instruction. The front turret was removed and replaced by a fairing. Inside the fuselage, up to four navigation tables were provided for students and there was room for two instructors.
Last ever... ...for a while This third ‘career’ in the RAF provided the means by which a Wellington was preserved for future generations. Built at Squires Gate, Blackpool, Mk.X MF628 moved to Boulton Paul’s Pendeford factory for conversion to a T.10. It joined 1 Air Navigation School at Hullavington in April 1949, but an accident on December 14, 1951 cut short its career. It was sent to Brooklands Aviation at Sywell for repair and was issued to
”FRANCE RETIRED ITS WELLINGTONS IN 1955 THE LAST OF THE TYPE IN FRONTLINE SERVICE.”
96-97_Swansong.ke.indd 96
04/10/2013 15:39
97
19 Maintenance Unit at St Athan in October 1952. The final sorties by RAF Wellington T.10s took place in March 1953 at Hullavington and, with this imminent, MF628 lay in store. Michael Anderson’s superb film, The Dam Busters, was being shot at Hemswell and other locations during
Museum. When it was installed at Hendon on October 26, 1971, MF628 was the only intact Wellington in the world. As revealed in R-for-Robert on page 76, all this changed in September 1985 when N2980 emerged from Loch Ness. On July 1, 2010 the RAF Museum’s Wellington made the
version of the Viking. First appearing in June 1945 the Viking was an airliner derived from the Wellington. In 1951 the first deliveries of an allpurpose crew trainer began. This was the Varsity, the ultimate extrapolation of the Wellington. Powered by 1,950hp (1,454kW) Bristol Hercules 264s, the
”A CAMERA SHIP WAS NEEDED FOR ’DAM BUSTERS’, AND THE NEWLY REFURBISHED MF628 FITTED THE BILL ADMIRABLY.” the spring of 1954 and the RAF was actively participating. A camera-ship was needed and the newly-refurbished MF628 fitted the bill admirably. The ‘Wimpey’ arrived at the Lincolnshire airfield in April 1954 and returned to St Athan in October. By then it had out-lived the remainder of the T.10s. Vickers acquired MF628 from the RAF and presented it to the Royal Aeronautical Society. It was flown to Wisley on January 24, 1955 – the lastever flight of a British Wellington. By March 1961 it was moved to Biggin Hill, and the following year was presented to the nascent RAF
96-97_Swansong.ke.indd 97
journey from Hendon to the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre at Cosford where it is undergoing a major restoration.
Continued lineage As the last Wellington T.10s retired from service at Hullavington, deliveries of new types that clearly owed much to the Wellington were well in hand to the RAF. The first of these was the Valetta T.3 navigation trainer, a military
Above, centre: T.10 MF628 in the static at Abingdon in June 1968 for the RAF’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Above: Varsity T.1 WJ819 of the RAF College, Cranwell, June 1968. Its Wellington lineage is evident. BOTH ROY BONSER Main image: Serving from 1946 with 2 Air Navigation School at Middleton St George, T.10 NC425, was retired in 1950. AUTHOR’S COLLECTION
Varsity had tricycle undercarriage, and a large under-fuselage pannier doubled as bomb bay and a bomb aimer’s bench. Like the Wellington that inspired it, the Varsity had a long service life with the RAF. A total of 163 were built, the last one retiring from Finningley in May 1976.
04/10/2013 15:42
The Wellington was not the nicest aircraft to fly, being at best somewhat ponderous. But it did have one outstanding virtue and that was that, once well and truly airborne, with plenty of speed and a bit of height, it would fly – just! – on one engine... Sqn Ldr Gordon Willis A Coastal Command Wellington XIV of 458 Squadron RAAF operating on long anti-submarine patrols out of Gibraltar, early 1945. KEY COLLECTION
Wellington F_P.indd 1
02/10/2013 10:13
Brooklands Aviation Day Sunday 21st September 2014
Brooklands Museum F_P.indd 1
26/09/2013 13:20
